


Cloak and Dagger

by violethowler



Series: Acolytes of Chaos [8]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), American Dragon: Jake Long, Kim Possible (Cartoon), Kingdom Hearts, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Gen, Multi, One Shot Collection, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-16 19:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 28,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14171454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violethowler/pseuds/violethowler
Summary: While Sora and the Avengers traverse the vastness of space, the Coalition strike team left behind on Earth must continue the fight against both the Hellfire Club and the Unchained Legion. Thankfully, they've got S.H.I.E.L.D. and the S.A.C.K. there to share some of the burden.





	1. Bon Voyage

**Author's Note:**

> This is the penultimate story in my Acolytes of Chaos series, re-posted from my fanfiction.net account. It's a side-fic that takes place during the events of Kingdom Hearts V.

#### Hawaiian Islands – Pelekai Household

#### October 8th, 2021

"Why do I get the feeling that they have the easy job?" S.H.I.E.L.D. Deputy Director Phillip J. Coulson asked rhetorically as he watched the sleek crimson spaceship disappear into the clouds above as Sora, Nick Fury, Jake Long, and six of the founding members of the Avengers Initiative headed off into Earth's orbit on their journey to bring the brunette Keyblade Master home.  _Cruising around space like the Serenity would be pretty nice right about now,_ Coulson thought dryly to himself as he stood on the porch of the Pelekai household. Although he had intended his question to be rhetorical, it seemed that he had been overheard.

"Because you have a perfectly functioning survival instinct," Vanitas snarked as the deputy director of the Coalition Intelligence Network came up the stairs to the porch. For a moment, the two spies simply stood there in silence, looking up at the sky as if the departure of some of their respective worlds' greatest heroes was an ominous warning of things to come. Down the stairs, the two agents could hear the buzz of conversation as operatives of S.H.I.E.L.D., C.I.N., and the Society of Advanced Cultural Knowledge casually made their way back to the house.

Nani had invited them all to stay for dinner, but while both Coulson and Vanitas appreciated the gesture, they both knew that they had to get everyone back to the Playground so that they could plan their next move. Although they had not talked much in the past week, both men were keenly aware of the fact that they had a long fight ahead of them. Between the Hellfire Club and the Unchained Legion, there were a plethora of malevolent forces on Earth that needed to be rooted out and eliminated.  _Maleficent's Cabal isn't anything new for us though,_ Vanitas thought as he looked over to where everyone was emerging from the bushes surrounding the path leading up to where Jumba usually parked his spaceship.  _It's the Unchained that concern me._

Neither deputy director said anything as their respective agents walked towards the house. The decision to allow them a few more minutes of rest and calm before the real work began went unspoken between the two. Cloud and Zack were casually discussing life in Radiant Garden with Rinoa, while Even was engaged in an impenetrable bubble of scientific technobabble with Fitz and Simmons. Violet discussed superpowers with Daisy while Agent May walked stoically towards the stairs. Without prompting, the veteran S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent climbed the stairs and joined her co-worker on the porch.

"So what's our next move?" she asked.  _Right to the point as always,_ Coulson thought with an amused mental chuckle. He looked over at Vanitas, but the dark Keyblade wielder nodded his head in May's direction.  _It's your world, you take the lead,_ the unspoken meaning of the gesture said. Coulson nodded before he started to explain what they had so far.

"Daisy's started analyzing the data Vanitas' team has recovered from the Unchained base on Morag," Coulson began. "We haven't been able to get much besides the coordinates Fury's little crew is using. That said, Agent Romanov gave us the coordinates of a safe house she used during her days with the Legion that should still be secure. Hopefully we can get some answers there. Beyond that, we start adjusting our sweep of world news for anything that screams "Maleficent"." May nodded in acknowledgement before announcing that she was going to prepare the Quinjet for takeoff.

"Guess it's time to get this show on the road," Vanitas remarked wearily as the two deputy directors headed down the front steps to address their respective teams. He, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill, and S.A.C.K. leader Peggy Rogers, had made announcements to their respective agencies about the three-way collaboration going forward. Everyone understood, and the three agencies were all getting along well enough so far.

"Alright, everyone," Coulson called out. "The fun and games stop today. As of right now, we are at war. The Hellfire Club has allied with the straggling remnants of HYDRA, and are attempting to expand their influence to add Earth to their would be interstellar empire."

"Not only that," Vanitas added, trading off with Coulson over who would address the group. "But a new enemy has entered the fray. The Unchained Legion. For those who've never heard it before, every living heart in this universe returns to Kingdom Hearts after a person dies. Their soul passes on to the afterlife, but the heart is purged of darkness and sent back out into a newborn body. All memories of the previous reincarnation are erased, but there's a process known as Unchaining that allows one to recall all memories of their past lives and retain them for all future incarnations, for all intents and purposes making them immortal."

"We have known of the existence of Unchained for roughly half a decade," the Key Bearer went on. "But we have recently learned that they are far more numerous than we initially believed. There are apparently enough Unchained to form an army, and they've organized themselves towards an as-yet unknown purpose. Our mission is to find out what they want and figure out how to defeat them." Once Vanitas finished speaking, Coulson ordered everyone back to the Quinjet so they could return to the Playground. They had work to do.

Once they were in the air, Coulson contacted Peggy and asked her to send a team of S.A.C.K. agents to the coordinates the Black Widow had provided. An hour later, Shego, Lady Sif, and Neku Sakuraba made their way through the station Underpass in Shibuya, Tokyo. Neku had been surprised when the coordinates of the Unchained's stash were located along the Shibuya river.  _Which can only mean two things,_ the orange haired team thought to himself as he led the Asgardian and Inhuman into the River.  _Either the proximity of her safe house to the River is pure coincidence, or she left it there deliberately. Either way, did Josh know about this?_

While Neku had come to forgiven the enigmatic "teen" over the years, he was well aware that he had an almost pathological inability to give a straight answer. Joshua had opened up more around his friends, but he could still be an evasive, manipulative bastard at times.  _Hopefully he's in a more straightforward mood today, then,_ Neku thought as he led his fellow S.A.C.K. agents down the River. Since he was one of those most familiar with the Reaper's Game and the Shibuya UG, he was given command of the mission.

Eventually, they arrived at the Dead God's Pad, where Joshua spent his time when he wasn't busy with his duties as the Composer. Neku looked down at the tracker in his hand. The coordinates were an exact match, making the likelihood of this being a coincidence almost zero.  _Which means that Black Widow's safe house is somewhere in Josh's room,_ Neku concluded. Before he could instruct Sif and Shego to spread out and search the room, the door leading further up the river opened to reveal the angel himself.

"Hey, Neku," he greeted in his usual smug tone. "What brings you here?" Shego and Lady Sif hung back and let the two friends discuss the issue themselves. They had been briefed on the existence of the Composer and the Reaper's Game when they were each made aware of the Society, but since their main reason for being on this mission was to protect Neku in the event that they were ambushed by Unchained or other Enhanced individuals, they each took seats on the couches along the walls of the room.

"Apparently one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s tops agents is secretly an immortal Keyblade Wielder," the teen explained. "She gave the S.A.C.K. coordinates for a safe house, and they led us here." Neku refrained from continuing the discussion further, waiting to see whether Joshua was feeling like being straightforward today or if he was going to play mind games. To his surprise, Josh just sighed.

"I figured this would happen sooner or later," the blonde angel remarked as he motioned for Neku and the two women to follow him toward the door leading to his closet. "I should have called and asked her to come move her stuff a decade ago." Joshua flipped open his phone and pressed a button that summoned several meticulously labeled boxes from the back shelves of the cavernous storage space. "Here you go. It should all be labeled. Good luck sorting through it." Sif and Shego each grabbed two boxes and started carrying them out to the tunnel entrance where they would signal Gordon that they would need to make multiple trips. While they started a bucket brigade since there were more boxes than the three of them could carry on their own, Neku had one more question for his angelic friend.

"Why exactly did you let an interation spy and immortal Keyblade Master dump her stuff in your closet anyway?" Neku asked, curious but doubtful he'd actually get a straight answer. He was surprised when the angel blushed.

"Immortality tends to leave a relatively small dating pool," Josh mumbled, hoping that nobody would hear him. Unfortunately, (for him anyway) Neku did hear the comment. A joyful smirk spread across his face.  _Shiki and the others aren't going to believe this,_ he thought to himself as he proceeded to grill Josh about his love life.


	2. Devil of Hell's Kitchen

#### New York City – Hell's Kitchen

#### October 9th

"All right everyone," Vanitas announced over the radio. "Let's do this thing. All teams sound off." The computer geeks of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the S.A.C.K. were still going over the goldmine of information Black Widow had left behind about the Unchained Legion, but when they unearthed coordinates and defense specs for an Unchained compound in Hell's Kitchen, New York City, Director Hill decided it was time to make their first move. The three collaborating agencies had quickly mobilized for a strike on the hidden genetics lab where a woman by the name of Madame Gao was conducting experiments in human-to-animal transformation under the cover of drug dealing.

"Alpha Squad is in position," Daredevil called out over the comms. Since the Defenders were serving as the visible and public protectors of New York City, S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to bring them in on this, since they had experience with the neighborhood, and Murdock in particular had dealt with Gao's drug front before. The Defenders were given an abridged explanation of the situation with the Unchained, S.A.C.K., C.I.N., and the Hellfire Club, and agreed to help. To cover as much ground as possible, the agents and heroes participating in the raid were divided into seven teams of four, with each group carrying out a particular role in the attack. Daredevil, Coulson, Mack, and Even were standing by and ready to breach the main entrance as soon as the dark Keyblade wielder gave the order.

"Beta's been ready for the last hour," Jessica Jones commented dryly as she, Bobbi, Hunter, and Violet readied themselves near the back entrance of the facility that Natasha's research indicated was the nerve center of Gao's Earthbound operations. While the Mockingbird was the one leading Beta Squad, Jessica still liked to be snarky and acerbic towards authority figures in general.

"Gamma's good to go," Agent May replied as she nodded to Rinoa, Luke Cage, and Spider-Man. At May's signal, the three prepared themselves for battle and cautiously crept across the roof of the building towards the door leading inside to the stairs.

"Delta Squad is ready to move," Daisy responded as she, Lincoln, Shego, and YoYo prepared to break through the door to the facility's underground parking garage.

"Epsilon is poised to strike on your command," Sif reported as Ludor, Joey, and Cobra Bubbles followed her down an alleyway leading to an unsecured side entrance.

"Zeta's locked and loaded," Iron Fist answered while Elektra sharpened her sai behind him while she, Kim, and Ron waited for Vanitas to give the order for the raid to begin."

"Omega squad is present and accounted for," Zack Fair finished the roll call with an overdramatic flourish as he, Cloud, Isa, and Quicksilver finished unstrapping their parachutes and made their way across the roof to where Gamma squad was gathered. At the Playground, Vanitas monitored the situation from Director Hill's office, while the woman herself was aboard the Helicarrier overseeing the other combined .K., S.H.I.E.L.D., and C.I.N. forces preparing to raid Madame Gao's other compounds all over the world. A moment later, the signal arrived. Vanitas relayed the order to the seven strike teams, and the attack began.

The sounds of gunfire, destruction, and hand-to-hand combat echoed through the facility as the combined factions stormed the building. Gamma and Omega squads broke down the rooftop door and hurried down the stairs. When they reached the first landing, Agent May's group broke off and exited the stairwell in pursuit of the facility's armory. Zack's team continued downward. Their job was to apprehend Gao herself. While those to squads made their way down from the room, Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Zeta squads went charging in, guns literally and metaphorically blazing.

Alpha squad encountered fierce resistance the minute they entered the building. Gao's blinded mortal henchmen came charging forward to thwart the intrusion and keep the invaders from reaching the more sensitive portions of the lab. Daredevil took the lead for the first wave, moving down the human goons with his hands, feet, and eskrima sticks. Coulson and fired off I.C.E.R. rounds into the blinded henchmen before they could get close to them, while Even froze the ones that the others missed in large chunks of ice. Once the first wave of mortal security guards fell, the Unchained came out themselves.

While only a handful of them were actually wielding Keyblades, they were all still wielding some form of melee weapon, whether it be nunchakus or swords. Daredevil went after the ones with nunchaku and knives, while the rest dealt with their new opponents in their own ways. Even and Mack dealt with the sword and Keyblade wielders with an ice blade and his trusty shotgun-axe respectively. Coulson stayed in the back and picked off immortal warriors with I.C.E.R.s (and occasionally real bullets when he had to) when their backs were turned.

In the midst of Alpha squad's skirmish at the front entrance, Beta squad was having much better luck. Since most of the base's security was diverted towards focusing on Alpha squad's intrusion, the Unchained in the back were caught with their pants down when Beta squad burst in through the back door. Hunter stuck to his I.C.E.R. gun while Jessica Jones went after the Unchained with her bare hands. Despite their immortality and enhanced durability, the Unchained were still human. And since they were all still distracted by the four man band knocking on the front door, their reactions were slowed enough for Jessica to land a few super-strength punches before they recovered their senses.

Bobbi's batons enabled her to hold up pretty well against Keyblades and swords, while Violet wreaked havoc with her invisibility and force fields. Delta Squad cut their way into the parking lot and managed to make their way inside with minimal resistance in the garage itself, but once they were inside the main building, the fighting go tougher. Even with their Inhuman powers, the Unchained had the advantage of near ten millennia worth of combat experience. Making their way to the lab's computer mainframe was slow going for them.

Zeta Squad was having the best luck so far. Between Iron Fist's powers, Elektra's dual sai, and the Stoppables' gadgets, they moved through mortal and immortal alike as if they were a hot knife carving their way through a stick of butter. In all the chaos of those battles, Epsilon squad entered through the alleyway completely unnoticed. It was a madhouse from there on out as both sides scrambled to achieve their own objectives. The heroes to capture Madame Gao and her detachment of Unchained; The Unchained to escape the invasion without losing their research.

* * *

Roughly two hours later, the battle was finally over. While the Unchained had suffered heavy losses, Madame Gao and her power base had managed to escape. Vanitas, Coulson, and Hill were all annoyed that the Unchained woman had slipped through their fingers, but they had at least managed to download a sizeable portion of the mainframe before the Unchained had managed to delete their hard drives. With this information, Daisy and the other tech experts could being to paint a clearer picture of what it was that the Unchained were trying to do and why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this saga long years before The Defenders came out (even before Luke Cage and Iron Fist were released, in fact), so I didn't know how ambivalent I would end up feeling about the team. I liked Jessica Jones, but I was already kinda meh about Daredevil. At the same time, I wanted to give the team something to do and have background Marvel characters besides Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.


	3. Angelic Remnants

#### Earth – The Playground

#### October 11th, 2021

Today was a relatively quiet day around S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. It had been two days since the raid on Madame Gao's Unchained laboratory, and Daisy had been working nonstop to crack the encryptions the Legion kept on their secret files. Sadly, whichever Unchained came up with the encryption in the first place was as good with computers as she was, which meant that her progress was slow. With no other intelligence to go on, the visitors from the Coalition had to find other things with which to occupy their time besides hunting bad guys. Results were mixed.

Vanitas had ingratiated himself with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s central command, and so he helped coordinate international missions and keep the agency running smoothly. Even joined FitzSimmons in the labs as the trio discussed Coalition technology and ways to certain devices here on Earth. Cloud and Zack were working out in the gym to stay in shape, while Violet was busy testing the durability of her force fields in a sparring match against Lincoln. While there was always something to do around the base or at S.A.C.K.'s main compound in New York, the off-worlders were quickly starting to get bored.

Around lunch time, however, the monotony finally broke. Intruder alarms began going off all throughout the base, calling everyone to action. The sirens first began to blare when FitzSimmons and Even were in the lab examining the Kree Monolith that had previously sat in the hold of the Iliad. They were discussing the history of Inhumans and the mechanics of Terrigenesis when the massive stone shifted into its liquid form. The grey goo flowed towards the walls of the container to reveal three silver haired men in black coats standing in the center of the glass containment box.

Vanitas had heard of Sephiroth's offspring from Loki and had briefed his team accordingly after they'd arrived on Earth. So, when Even looked up from their conversation at the sound of the stone liquefying and laid eyes on the so-called "Advent Children," he immediately sprang into action. As Fitz and Simmons raced to the wall and pulled the lever installed for emergencies, the Chilly Academic summoned his shield and began attempting to encase the glass box in ice. But it was already too late. With a single electrified punch from his spiked gauntlet, Loz smashed through the wall and charged towards the former Nobody.

"Where's Grandmother!?" Loz demanded as he charged forward and slammed his armored fist against Even's shield.  _Grandmother!?_ Even wondered incredulously as he struggled to defend himself.  _What the hell is he prattling on about?_ Behind him, FitzSimmons took off running down the hallway while he held the eldest of the One-Winged Angel's children at bay.  _Great thinking,_ he added as he created a quarter dome of ice around the door.  _These three are as tough as Keyblade Wielders. Those two wouldn't have stood a chance. Smart of them to get out and get help._

FitzSimmons contacted Coulson over the comms and announced that the base had been breached through the Monolith. They explained the situation and what they had seen as they made their way to Director Hill's office, periodically checking behind them to see if they were being followed. As soon as they had been appraised of the situation, everyone sprang into action. Zack and Cloud had just finished a sparring match when they heard the news and immediately picked their swords back up as they raced out of the weapons training room. Violet had just finished a post-workout shower when the alarms sounded and quickly rushed towards her locker to change.

Daisy and the Secret Warriors were out bowling as a team bonding activity (and to get Daisy to take a break from decrypting the Unchained files before she worked herself to death) but immediately dropped everything when they got the call and headed back to the van. Vanitas sprinted out of the office towards the labs once FitzSimmons had explained what was going on, Keyblade already in hand. Meanwhile, Coulson, Mack, and the Koenig brothers broke into a run towards the armory to grab every weapon they could. Mack grabbed his trust shotgun-axe, while Coulson started passing out the old Destroyer guns he'd affectionately dubbed "Bambinos" to the rest of the incoming agents.

Back at the labs, Vexen's defenses finally gave out. The scientist himself still had enough energy left to find, but he'd been exhausted from Loz's constant pounding on his shield and could no longer hold up the ice wall. With the barrier down, Kadaj and Yazoo sprinted out of the Monolith chamber in the direction of the main laboratories.  _Jenova!_ Even realized with a sinking feeling in his stomach when he pieced together what the trio was looking for.  _They think we have the samples of that monster's DNA that went missing after the creation of Sephiroth! And if they don't find what they're looking for, they'll be likely to tear this whole place apart and kill us all until we give them what they want._

That thought proved to be surprisingly prophetic, as Eric Koenig emerged from around a corner and fired at Yazoo. Even did what he could to hold back Loz, but the other two silver-haired men nimbly dodged the I.C.E.R. bullets before Yazoo whipped out his twin pistols and began returning fire. Vanitas arrived in a flash of darkness and began to duel Kadaj, blade to blade. Cloud, his muscules augmented by some of the experiments Xehanort had done to him before The Fall, arrived from the gym first and engaged Loz to keep him busy. Even held out his shield and positioned himself between Sephiroth's offspring and the Playground's command center as more S.H.I.E.L.D. agents began arriving from the opposite direction.

Since the hallways were a bit too constricting and not conductive to elaborate sword fights, Kadaj warped to the roof of a nearby building with Vanitas in hot pursuit. Cloud managed to keep Loz on his toes, but Zack's arrival gave the burly Inhuman another target. Exploiting the duo's friendship, Loz went after Agent Fair, lunch too fast for the raven haired S.A.C.K. agent to block, but Cloud was able to get there in time and bat the older man side. Unfortunately, this was exactly what Loz wanted, and he took off at lightning speed down the hallway towards the main labs. Daisy and Lincoln both attempted to stop him, but he was moving so quickly that their attacks simply hit the wall behind him.

While Cloud, Lincoln, Daisy, and Zack raced off towards the lab in pursuit of Loz, gunfire began to fill the corridor. Violet and Even, working in tandem, were able to create a decent amount of cover as Coulson, May, Mack, Hunter, and Eric Koenig opened fire on the remaining brother. Yazoo moved with the speed and grace of a professional dancer as he ducked and dodged every bullet fired on him. Back in the laboratory, Loz was frantically searching through every storage cabinet in the room for his prize. Reports from Maleficent's spies indicated that the last remaining samples of Jenova's DNA used in their father's creation had made their way to Earth during the Fall, and rumor had it that they'd recently fallen into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands.

While Maleficent cautioned against chasing shadows on mere rumors, Loz and his siblings were growing desperate. Maleficent continually failed to deliver on her promise of helping them resurrect their father, and the three siblings wanted results. So they struck out on their own and severed all ties with the Hellfire Club. They knew from Maleficent's HYDRA contacts that the monolith housing the portal through which Jenova was first banished to Maveth was located inside S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters, the self-proclaimed "Advent Children" planned their next move. But now it looked like they were barking up the wrong tree.

His frantic searching was interrupted when the other two Koenig brothers came charging into the lab behind him. Angry at being misled and trapped in his prolonged period of grieving over his father, Loz turned the shock prods of his gauntlet on to the highest setting and lashed out at the nearest brother. Sam Koenig received an intense blast of electricity to the heart as the pronged gauntlet pierced his chest before the force of Loz's punch sent the portly man flying into the concrete wall of the base with a sickening crunch. The silver-haired man took advantage of Billy's shock at his brother's demise to punch the other man in the face just hard enough to daze him without knocking him unconscious.

"WHERE IS JENOVA!?" He roared as he brought Koenig's face up to his level. "WHERE ARE YOU KEEPING HER!?"

"Never heard of her," the Koenig brother groaned as he gasped for breath. "Inhumans would have identified her remains if we had 'em. Only corpses we ever kept for study were Chitauri." Enraged, Loz snapped the man's neck before contacting his brothers and informing him that their quarry was not here. Kadaj broke off from his duel with Vanitas and broke away while Yazoo had to sprint around a corner before he could open up a Dark Corridor and get away from S.H.I.E.L.D. The attack on the Playground lasted for less than two hours, but the loss of two long-serving agents left S.H.I.E.L.D. rattled. If the children of Sephiroth could infiltrate their base so easily and boldly, how long until the rest of the Hellfire Club or even the Unchained Legion decided to follow?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to have S.H.I.E.L.D. suffer some losses from the Remnants' attack without killing off the major characters, and since the Koenig siblings were all fairly minor characters, I felt they were noteworthy enough to be killed off but still not major characters. I kept Eric alive for the irony of him being the only one to die in canon vs. being the only one to live here. I wrote this fic before LT and Thurston Koenig were introduced in AOS Season 4, so you can all imagine they're both still alive if you want to.


	4. Advent Children

#### Japan – Narita International Airport

#### October 12th, 2021

 _Of all the places those three could have gone to resurrect Sephiroth, it had to be Shibuya,_ S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Barbra "Bobbi" Hunter thought to herself as she, Cloud, Sif, and Zack followed Shiki through the crowded corridors of Narita International Airport. Within a few hours of the attack on the Playground, Society members in Japan reported that Sephiroth's offspring had been sighted in the Tokyo area. As soon as they received that information, Coulson and Vanitas dispatched Mockingbird, Cloud, and Zack to assist the S.A.C.K. team there in taking the silver-haired trio down. Normally, S.H.I.E.L.D. would issue warrants and information to local law enforcement agencies to aid in the search, but given how easily the trio had kept up with the likes of Vanitas and killed two of the Koenig brothers, everyone involved agreed that it would be safer to handle this discreetly.

So Mockingbird's team took a Quinjet to Japan, where S.A.C.K. members Shiki and Neku Sakuraba met them at the airport. After they made it out of the terminal and piled into a van that local Society members had purchased for transporting large groups. From there, they were driven to the nearest S.A.C.K. facility, where they were filled in on everything. Beat, another member of the S.A.C.K., had been tailing the "angel's bastards," as Loki had called them since they were first spotted, and Beat's sister Rhyme informed the joint S.H.I.E.L.D. and C.I.N. team of what the trio had been seen doing for the past twelve hours.

"Based on their path and their actions through Shibuya," Rhyme explained, "It's obvious that they're looking for the entrance to the Shibuya River. And given how much of the area they've already covered in just twelve hours, it's only a matter of time before they figure out where the entrance is." Bobbi nodded as she began to formulate a plan. While Cloud, Sif, and Zack were the ones with the physical capability to go up against the Inhuman trio, Coulson had given her command of the mission.  _Asgardians are more durable than Inhumans,_ she mused.  _So if we can have Sif and the vanilla human members of S.A.C.K. stationed at the river's entrance on guard duty, the rest of us can force our targets into a space that's away from civilian areas in order to fight them._

Bobbi shared her plan with the rest of the group, and everyone quickly agreed. Sif took a team of S.A.C.K. members and set off towards the entrance to the Shibuya River at the Station Underpass. Meanwhile, Bobbi, Cloud, and Zack headed for Beat's last reported location to make their move. Fortunately for them, it appeared that their targets were making a beeline for Cat Street. Neku called his old friend Joshua, and a squad of Reapers was dispatched to cut the silver-haired men off at the Miyashita Park Underpass. While Reapers were normally without their powers in the land of the living, the Composer was willing to bend a few rules given the threat that Sephiroth's offspring posed.

With Neku and Shiki leading the way, Bobbi and her team sprinted through the streets of Shibuya. The fierce looks in their eyes ensured that pedestrians scrambled to stay out of their way (Cloud and Zack's absurdly large swords helped, but the people of Shibuya were used to such strange sights by now, so it was mainly the "Move or be moved" look on the groups' faces that unnerved people the most). An hour later, they raced into the underpass to find Loz pounding furiously on an invisible wall while a quartet of enigmatic looking young men in a red hoodie stood behind the occasionally glowing barrier with smirks on their faces. The muscular man's next punch shattered a gaping hole in the barrier, only for one of the Reapers in red to summon a new one in a flash of crystalline hexagons.

"You know," Bobbi called out as Cloud and Zack readied their swords. "If you're so desperate to find the rotting corpse of a dead Inhuman you should have done your research to make sure you were looking in the right place." Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz turned around at the sound of her voice and quickly slipped into fighting stances. Neku and Shiki prepared their pins for battle while the Mockingbird twirled her batons.

"I just knew that someone from S.H.I.E.L.D. came after us," Kadaj remarked dryly. "I'm only surprised it happened this quickly." Behind Bobbi, Sif came running into the area. The Composer had sent additional Reapers to protect the Shibuya River, freeing the Asgardian agent to come over and provide reinforcements. The Nordic warrior raised her shield as she drew her sword from its sheath. For the next several minutes, a tense standoff ensued. Both sides were ready to fight, but neither of them were willing to be the one to make the first move. The seconds ticked away as each side stood, waiting to see who would strike first.

It was Loz who finally broke the stalemate. The eldest of Sephiroth's offspring, spurred by desperation and grief, charged towards the combined S.H.I.E.L.D. and C.I.N. team with a roar of primal fury. Loz charged towards Bobbi, but Lady Sif stepped in front and intercepted him with her shield. Cloud fell back to support the Asgardian warrior while the rest of the team sprang into action. Zack lunged forward and took a stab at Kadaj, only for the silver-haired swordsman to counter the blow and retaliate with a strike of his own. While the two sword wielders danced back and forth across the underpass, Bobbi raced up to Yazoo and took a swing at him with her batons.

The middle of trio blocked with the bladed edge of his gun before attempting to shoot her with the other. Bobbi dodged and knocked the second gun out of his hands and smacked him in the side with her left sbaton. Yazoo grabbed Bobbi's arm as the hit recoiled, twisting it and forcing her to drop the baton. The battle went on like this for the next several minutes, until Zack managed to knock Kadaj off his feet and send him flying across the underpass. It quickly became clear to everyone present that the One-Winged Angel's children did not have the upper hand in this fight.

"You may have barred us from accessing the UG," Kadaj remarked as he began to sink into a Corridor of Darkness that he formed beneath his fallen form. "But we will bring out father back." Yazoo and Loz abandoned their own duels and dove into the portal. Bobbi and her team raced forward to cut off the trio's escape, but they were too late, and the Dark Corridor closed. They had gotten away again.

 _This is going to be a problem,_ Bobbi mused as they took stock of their situation and headed back to the S.A.C.K. safe house to regroup.  _If they're so dead set on resurrecting their mass-murdering mercenary father, then these skirmishes won't be anything more than a temporary delay until their next attempt. I think we probably should alert international law enforcement agencies about these guys after all._


	5. The Magus Bazaar

#### New York City – The Magus Bazaar

#### October 13th, 2021

Things were quiet in New York's magical community. After the American Dragon and his ex-slayer wife destroyed both the Huntsclan and the Dark Dragon, things in the magical community had been peaceful. Barring the occasional Hobgoblin attack or a Crylock popping up, events had calmed down and people had gone about their lives. Chang had been killed in the scuffle at Victoria Peak back in 2007, and it would be nearly a millennium before the Dark Dragon could ever escape from the Summit Temple. They didn't know that Chang had been executed by Warden Lerena while the dragons of the world were busy fighting the Dark Dragon, or that the dark one himself had already been killed by the combined might of two hundred Unchained, but nobody outside of the Black Widow knew that, so people simply chose to believe whatever allowed them to sleep at night.

Jake Long managed to handle his duties as the American Dragon pretty well, and his friends in the magical world threw him a gigantic party when he finally retired from the position. A few of them even showed up to his wedding. His sister Haley turned out to be a lot more popular than him, however. While Jake had plenty of friends throughout the supernatural community, and he was by no means unpopular, there were always those who were wary of the fact that he dated and eventually married a former member of the Huntsclan. Even though Rose managed to win over most of those who doubted her change of heart, the prejudice and distrust still lingered.

As the world began to move into an increasingly digital age of spy satellites and surveillance cameras, the Dragon Council and the other leaders of the mystical population took measures to protect themselves from the mortal world. Working in concert, a combination of three witches, a dragon, seven fairies, and nine wizards managed to create a magical veil that kept the supernatural hubs of the world concealed from the cameras and satellites. The magical races were more discreet when they were out in public in human cities, and dragons learned to be careful where they hid themselves to transform. As a result, the magical community had managed to stay hidden from the likes of S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA for nearly a decade and a half now. Even the Society of Advanced Cultural Knowledge, which had known about the magical world almost since its inception, respectfully kept their distance.

And then today, all of it finally came crashing down. At ten o' clock that morning, the loud but calm bust of elves and leprechauns and pixies going about their shopping was shattered when the wall that severed as a hidden entrance from the mortal side of New York City exploded in a blast of fire and smoke. HYDRA agents swarmed into the bazaar, closely followed by a team of plasma rifle-wielding Leroy clones. The Leroys began firing wildly into the panicking crowds, injuring and in some cases even killing random pedestrians as the HYDRA agents made their way through the stalls. Centaurs and fairies alike fled in every direction, heedless of the danger as they scrambled to get out of the bazaar in a blind panic.

Despite what many would think, most of the magical community was outright terrified of humans. In the wake of the last Keyblade War, several of the surviving Dragons went on to seize power for themselves, and humans made up the bulk of their armies. Because while humans did not have pointed teeth, sharp claws, the strength of a troll, or the speed of a centaur, they had (from an outsider's perspective) a frightening level of endurance. Their bodies healed quicker than any other magical race, they slept very little and were active more often compared to, say, and elf. Humans were known as pursuit predators for a reason, and the only reason that magicals didn't panic at the sight of a human is they were merely going about their business like a weapon being stored for later use. But an attack by fully armed and armored humans intent on doing them harm was enough to send the magical community into a frenzy.

As a result, HYDRA advanced virtually unopposed through the crowded stalls of the Bazaar. The few magical creatures too cocky or stupid to know what they were doing were quickly dispatched as the terrorist group made its way towards a particular shop in the less crowded portion of the area. Maleficent's spies had been tracking the whereabouts of the Time Stone for weeks, and HYDRA was eager to gain more ground after their devastating losses suffered at the hands of the Avengers. With the Red Skull's death by Vanitas' Keyblade, Gideon Malick had stepped up to lead the ancient organization, and had dedicated their resources towards collecting the Infinity Stones. Maleficent had already lost two to this "Legion" and she was determined not to lose another.

"The Uchrono Hourglass," the agent in charge of the mission, Robert Giyera, demanded calmly as he approached the terrified shopkeeper. "Where can we find it?" The troll in question was trembling as the HYDRA goons held him at gunpoint, but complied.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the troll stammered as he attempted to deny any knowledge of what the humans were looking for. Giyera responded by shooting him in the knee. As the shop clerk collapsed to the floor, howling in pain, Giyera knelt down next to him and placed the barrel of his gun against the troll's head.

"Don't lie to us," Giyera snapped. "We know that it's here in New York, and there are only a handful of places where you can safely store an artifact that powerful. Our sources indicate that you know who has it. Cooperate, and we will let you live." The troll breathed rapidly, tears welling up in his eyes as he realized that he was likely to die. His kind might have skin thick enough that normal bullets would only give them bruises, but it was common knowledge that S.H.I.E.L.D., and through their infiltration of them, HYDRA had access to advanced weaponry that could theoretically pierce even a dragon's armored scales. The shopkeeper didn't want to find out if that was actually true.

"Alright, alright," he gasped out, sobbing as he rested his hands against the bleeding wound in his knee. "I'll tell you. Just don't hurt me anymore. It's supposed to be under the protection of – " the troll's panicked stammering was cut off when a HYDRA agent came flying through the walls of the shop. A raven haired former supervillain stepped into the shop, her gloved hands emitting the crackling glow of lime green fire. On instinct, the HYDRA agents in the room opened fire on Shego, but the bullets melted into thin air before they could reach her. Joey Gutierrez, an Inhuman and member of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Secret Warriors strike team ran into the room. While Shego pulled her arm back to throw a blast of green plasma, Joey melted all the HYDRA agents' guns.

Giyera and two of his goons managed to make a break for it, but the foot soldiers were quickly ensnared by what appeared to be spider webs as Spider-Man swung between the buildings. Daredevil and Luke Cage were locked in hand to hand combat with the remaining foot soldiers while Daisy disabled the Leroys' plasma rifles. Once all of the Hellfire Club's goons had been either killed or incapacitated (although Giyera managed to escape somehow), Joey returned to the shop where they'd found Giyera torturing a helpless clerk.

"You're safe now," Joey reassured the panicking troll as Bobbi and Hunter took off in pursuit of the HYDRA operative. "We're here to help." As if on cue, two S.H.I.E.L.D. medics came through the hole in the wall with a med-kit and a stretcher. From there, Joey helped move the shopkeeper to a nearby tent where S.H.I.E.L.D. medical staff and local magical healers had established a joint triage facility to handle injuries incurred in HYDRA's attack and the ensuing panic. As local law enforcement arrived to help transport the captured HYDRA agents to prison, the reality of what had just happened began to set in on the magical community. Today's events weren't just an attack on the magical world. The masquerade that had kept them safe from persecution and extermination had been broken, and nothing would ever be the same again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ever since I decided to include American Dragon: Jake Long in this saga I've been writing, I knew that I wanted to have a plot line dealing with the existence of magical creatures on Earth being exposed to the world. When I decided to have a bunch of Kingdom Hearts characters be operating on Earth during that time, I figured it would be a great way to get S.H.I.E.L.D. some practice for when it came time to reveal the existence of the Coalition, the S.A.C.K., etc. to the rest of the world.
> 
> The comments about the magical races of the AD:JL world being terrified of humanity are inspired by [On The Dark Dragon](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9301071/1/On-the-Dark-Dragon) over on fanfiction.net. It's a really cool story and I took inspiration from that when looking for ways to do some world building for the AD:JL portion of this 'verse.
> 
> In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Giyera's first name is never mentioned on screen, so I just went with Robert since it was the only "R" name I could think of that I felt fit. Since there was no Terigen outbreak in this continuity, he never got his powers. I decided to make the Uchrono Hourglass from American Dragon: Jake Long the Time Stone because it made sense that the Time Stone would be an existing artifact relating to time travel. In the Doctor Strange movie it ended up being the Eye of Agamoto, but that movie hadn't come out yet when I wrote this so the Doctor Strange mythos is not part of this universe.


	6. Broken Masquerade

#### Earth – The Playground

#### October 14th, 2021

"Since the things that have come to light are a surprise to absolutely no one in this room," S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill began as she looked around her office at the faces gathered there for this emergency meeting, "We need to put our heads together quickly and come up with a response to these events to calm the public and ease tensions between humans and the supernatural community." Coulson, Vanitas, Jiaying, Peggy Rogers, Agent Johnson, and Lady Sif all nodded their heads in agreement. Almost all of them expected that this day would come sooner or later, and each had prepared responses accordingly.

"The supernatural races have been on Earth just as long as humanity has," Jiaying replied. "Humans should not be allowed to force them from their homes out of prejudice and fear. I would offer to grant those fleeing persecution sanctuary in Afterlife, but the Elders have decided that with this development it's time that Inhumans stepped out of the shadows themselves. We'll be too swamped dealing with Inhuman refugees without having to make sure we have supplies for magical ones as well."

"In that case," Sif commented. "I have spoken with the All-Father and he has agreed to offer sanctuary to any of the magical races seeking a respite from persecution. I agree that it is wrong for humanity to force them from their homes, but should such a thing come to pass, Asgard will welcome them all with open arms and do what they can to help." Everyone in the room nodded in agreement at the proposal.

"As for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s official stance on all of this," Daisy added. "These people have been living in secret for centuries and if they were dangerous to the public people would have noticed more dragon related deaths or other such violent incidents before, so we'll keep the peace and help everyone get used to sharing the planet together." Director Hill agreed with the proposal, and gave Coulson orders to report on their stance to the U.N.

"In the meantime," Vanitas observed as Coulson left to go make the call and arrange the meeting. "We need to figure out who this will all fit in to our fight against Maleficent and the Unchained. There a number of ways that either the Hellfire Club or the Unchained Legion could turn this situation to their advantage. Maleficent could recruit magical creatures who are willing to fight to protect themselves from persecution at all costs, while the Unchained can fan the flames to keep us from focusing on whatever it is they're up to."

"Speaking of which," Peggy interjected. "It's a bit suspicious that there's been no sign of any activity for the past week. I think that whatever they're planning for their next move, it's going to be big."

"I can have the Secret Warriors on standby so that we can be ready to head out at a moment's notice when the Legion finally makes its move," Daisy suggested as they watched the television feeds showing various media outlets reacting to the revelation that dragons and fairies and elves had been living among them for thousands of years. "It won't be perfect but at least we can have our first wave on the ground before the Unchained can get away."

"I agree with Agent Johnson," Lady Sif concurred. "It is better to have the vanguard ready to leave on command and take the enemy by surprise that to be, as your people like to say, "caught with our pants down" and suffer even greater consequences."

"Very well," Hill replied. "I'll have the Secret Warriors transferred to the Playground so that we can have them all in one place when it's finally time for us to strike. Are there any other suggestions?" Nobody else had very many more ideas for now, since the meeting had covered the most important conversation topics and battle plans. With that determined, the meeting adjourned and everyone went their separate ways. Maria remained in her office because she had administrative paperwork to take care of, while Gordon quickly arrived to take Jiaying back to Lai Shi. Sif and Daisy went down to the gym for a morning workout, while Vanitas returned to the lounge, where he, Bobbi, Hunter, and Mack resumed their unfinished discussion of the history and social structure of the Daybreak Coalition. With any luck, they would be ready when the time finally came to strike the Unchained Legion and bring them down.

* * *

#### The Lanes Between – U.W.S.  _Ava_

#### October 14th, 2021

"So the supernatural realms have been exposed," the Novus Imperator of the Unchained Legion remarked upon hearing the news. In light of the permanent breaking of the masquerade, Skuld had assembled the Legion's High Council in her office aboard the  _Ava_ to discuss how to respond to this.

"How do we plan to respond to this?" High Praetor Robert Gonzales asked. "Those beasts are a threat to everything we've ever worked towards. I've heard through my position at S.H.I.E.L.D. that the Inhumans are planning to come out of hiding, and I doubt, given my views on powered individuals, that I'll be allowed anywhere near the negotiating table. Not to mention that the demon's presence would make it easy for him to deduce my connections to the Legion. So that rules out manipulating S.H.I.E.L.D. into doing our dirty work for us."

"Perhaps we can use some of the fanatics among humanity to kick off the powder keg," Stone observed. "There are already plenty of groups spewing hate speech against anyone who doesn't conform to their way of thinking. It would be a simple matter to twist a few of them against Inhumanity and the supernatural, arm them, and we'd have the Huntsclan 2.0 on our hands."

"Why settle for untrained recruits," Gao retorted. "When we can simply resurrect the fallen warriors ourselves, or even re-arm the trainees who survived the purge?" Everyone immediately sat up and paid attention. The properties of the Aztec Skulls had completely obliterated all adult Huntsclan members who were Unchained, but because the former Huntsgirl subconsciously recalled that mortal warriors were never considered  _true_ members of the Huntsclan, only those who weren't Unchained were spared from Foreteller Gula's weapon of mass destruction.

After the death of their teachers, the trainees had fled the Huntsclan lairs and academies en masse, reintegrating into society but never losing their ingrained drive to slay magical creatures. The Unchained had naturally kept track of them in case any of them could still be of use, and it would be a simple matter to reacquire them all under one banner, give remedial training to get them back into shape, and point them at the magical world. But the real attention getter was the idea of restoring their fallen comrades. The Aztec Skulls had completely obliterated the Unchained Huntsmen, heart, body, and soul. The remaining Unchained had spent five whole years researching and testing to find a way to bring them back, but none had ever succeeded. Until now, it seemed.

"I assume you wouldn't have brought this up unless you had already worked out a way to successfully resurrect our vanquished brethren," Warden Lerena commented bluntly from her position standing at Imperator Skuld's left side. "Otherwise the Imperator would have to punish you for wasting our time with false hopes about the old snipe hunt and making us thing that after a decade of inactivity, you've succeeded where all prior attempts at this endeavor have failed."

"No need to threaten me, Warden," Gao replied passive-aggressively. "I am well aware of the consequences I face for getting everyone's hopes up. I do, in fact, have a plan." As the Praetor-slash-drug-dealer went on to describe her proposed method of resurrecting the deceased Legionnaires who had been part of the Huntsclan, the rest of the High Council all took notes and assessed whether Gao's proposal could be used to further their own ends. Praetor Stone saw the plan as a way to bolster the ranks of The Chaste in their fight against The Hand, while High Praetor Gonzales saw reviving the Huntsclan as an expedient tool for turning the public against the magical community.

Gao herself didn't really care about the Hand or the magical community. All she hoped to achieve by this was to increase her own standing and take Gonzales down a few pegs. Pat saw the plan as an opportunity to fill the unfilled vacancy on the High Council with someone who actually believed in the cause as opposed to someone who would just be another ladder climber attempting to scheme their way to the top. Skuld, Aurilam, and Lerena, like Praetor Long, saw the opportunity to sweep away all the scheming backstabbers and replace them with Legionnaires who would be loyal only to the Endgame.

"Were well, Praetor Gao," Skuld began. "You have my approval to proceed with your proposed plan to resurrect the Huntsclan on one condition. High Praetor Aurilam and Warden Lerena will participate and oversee the plan to ensure that the Clan's loyalties have not wavered." The polite jab made it perfectly clear to everyone in the room what the Imperator was talking about. One would have to have been blind and deaf not to recognize the implied threat. Aurilam and Lerena would be there to keep Gao in line and make sure that she did not try to take the loyalty of the Huntsclan for herself. Not wishing to reveal her hand so soon, Gao bowed politely as she stood up to leave. With the meeting concluded, the rest of the High Council filed out of her office, and Skuld walked over to the window. As the stars streaked past the ship, she thought of Gao's plan to achieve in a few days what years of research couldn't.  _This had better work._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I divergede from MCU canon in this fic, I thought that the magical community being exposed would make for an interesting compare/contrast between the Inhumans plot-lines from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. seasons 2 and 3. 
> 
> While I know that Gonzales was more of a Well-Intentioned Extremist in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the fact that he never got properly called out for everything that he pulled always pissed me off royally, and I cheered when the character died because I wouldn't have to listen to characters defending his hypocrisy. Don't get me wrong, season 2 is great, and the "Real Shield" did have legitimate points, I just hated that Gonzales and his supporters were so hypocritical and yet nobody called the "Real S.H.I.E.L.D." out on it.
> 
> The trainees not being true members of the Huntsclan is my head-canon for the fate of all those trainees after the events of "Homecoming", since I felt that having ever single trainee killed by Rose's wish a little too dark to ever bring up on a Disney show, so I figured this was a sort of middle ground explanation. Of course, the reason they're not considered true Huntsclan members is completely different in my American Dragon head canon is completely different than it is in this story for obvious reasons.


	7. The Hunt Begins

#### Earth – The Playground

#### October 15th, 2021

"Here's what we've got," Coulson began as he turned to the C.I.N. and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents gathered in Maria's office for the mission briefing. Vanitas, Cloud, Even, Violet and the Secret Warriors had all assembled the instant that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s various surveillance methods had determined that the Unchained Legion was on the move. "According to Agent Romanov's intel," Phil went on. "There's an abandoned Huntclan lair in an abandoned section of the New York City subway tunnels. The secret anti-magic KKK was comprised primarily of Unchained, and they were destroyed by Agent Long and her husband back in 2007. The base has been abandoned ever since."

"Judging by the fact that we've detected at least two dozen Unchained making a beeline for the abandoned subway tunnels," Daisy commented. "Then there must be something hidden in the base that the Legion has just now figured out that it needs. Either that, or they're looking for someone. If Rose were here, she'd probably be able to lend us a hand." While the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. were surprised to learn that one of their own had connections to the magical community, nobody resented Rose for keeping secrets from the rest of the team. They understood that the supernatural community took its secrecy very seriously, and that prevented her from disclosing that aspect of her life with her colleagues.

"My thoughts exactly," Coulson answered as he pressed a button on his tablet to bring up security footage on the floor-to-ceiling monitor that took up the entire wall of Director Hill's office. "Since Vanitas' team has more experience fighting Keyblade Wielders, they'll be accompanying the Secret Warriors on this mission. For now, it's just recon. Find out what it is the Unchained Legion is after, and only engage them if it's absolutely necessary. Daisy, choose who to bring on the mission carefully. Not every Inhuman at S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to be capably of going up against a Keyblade Wielder."

"Roger that," Daisy commented before outlining which Secret Warriors would be staying behind. "Yo-Yo's fast," she explained. "But because she has to snap back to her starting point it'll put her at unnecessary risk. Joey's ability to liquefy metal will likely be useless since we've proven that Keyblades and Unchained armor are immune to his power because of their magical properties. Everyone else should be good to go for the mission." Everyone nodded in agreement, and the deputy director began typing the mission details up on the tablet while sending a message to notify local law enforcement to stay out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents' way once they arrived.

"Good," Coulson remarked as everyone started getting ready to leave the room. "Gear up and head out. I want you on the ground in the Big Apple within the next hour."

* * *

#### New York City – Abandoned Subway

#### One Hour Later

 _Let's get this over with,_ Shego remarked as she crept through the abandoned section of the subway tunnels beneath the streets of Manhattan. Honestly,  _sneaking through abandoned tunnels… stealing from secret bases… This is all starting to feel like old times._ Originally, the reformed Supervillain hadn't really been big on saving the world, and neither had Dr. Drakken. The only reason they had joined S.H.I.E.L.D. was because it was the best way to avoid going to jail to serve out the rest of their lengthy prison sentences for all the crimes they'd committed. Saving the world didn't necessarily absolve them of their years of plotting global conquest overnight.

So when S.H.I.E.L.D. had arrived to sweep the incident under the rug, Director Nicholas Fury gave them two options: either they could go back to jail and take the blame for the entire alien invasion, or they could join S.H.I.E.L.D. and take on the politically messy assignments in exchange for reducing their sentences, and all the blame would be pinned on someone else. Since neither of them were willing to go back to prison after all their hard work fighting the Lorwardian invasion, they took the second option. And a few weeks after the ceremony, she and Drakken ended up admitting their growing romantic feelings for each other. While the buffoon found the two supervillains' hook up surprising, she and Drakken had been wrestling with unresolved sexual tension for the previous year, and their kiss after the ceremony was simply the culmination of that.

Anyway, despite their concern for their villain credibility and the fact that they didn't want to be good guys, the two would be conquerors actually found themselves enjoying their new jobs. Drakken was right at home tinkering in the labs at The Sandbox creating all kinds of new tech, while Shego developed a sense of camaraderie with her trainer, Natasha Romanov. While Shego had gone from villain to hero, Natasha's past was the exact opposite, and her perspective was one Shego found refreshing. Not to mention that the former Russian assassin turned out to be one of the only people besides Kim Possible skilled enough to give Shego a challenge in a fight, and that was something she always enjoyed.

A year later, Kim had popped into S.H.I.E.L.D. for a consultation. The red-headed teen hero had invited her on a girls' night out, and on the urging of the last embers of their old friendship back when she was under the influence of the Attitudinator, Shego agreed. The tabloids had been a blaze with the usual absurd rumors, nosy journalists attempting to fire up "Kigo" rumors, but as with 99.99% of anything ever written by the tabloids, they were nothing but. Contrary to the celebrity rumor mill, Kim and Shego did not engage in a secret love affair. Rather, they simply engaged in a philosophical discussion of the latter's career choice and her life of villainy.

That had been the night where Shego had realized she'd truly left the path of evil behind without even realizing it. She'd stopped thinking of herself as a villain without noticing at all. At first, she was worried that Drakken might not have undergone the same shift that she had. But it turned out, she needn't have worried. He had been thinking the same thing about her. His motivation for being evil had been the mockery and ridicule of his fellow scientists back in college, and being around S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists who respected his credibility as a scientist was a huge boost to his self-confidence, and he'd started to see himself as the "Q" of S.H.I.E.L.D. instead of an evil mad scientist.

"Shego, time to cut our way in," Daisy whispered, snapping the green-skinned warrior out of her reminiscing. Shego blinked to clear her head and focus. It was time. After carefully igniting her powers in a single finger, she dragged her ignited finger in a circle, melting through the bars of the grate leading into what used to be a Huntsclan lair. Another S.H.I.E.L.D. team was investigating the old Huntsclan Academy upstate, but with the recent Unchained activity, it fell to the Secret Warriors to investigate the more urban facility. Once the cuts had melted through, the bars fell inward, only for Quake to use her powers to gently lower the metal grate to the floor without making a sound.

With the entrance made, the Secret Warriors made their way through the tunnels with Vanitas and Quake in the lead while Cloud and Zack brought up the rear. Violet used her invisibility to scout ahead, forcing the team to be cautious and check for ambushes at every intersection until the superhero returned. Eventually, they found themselves on a catwalk overlooking what used to be the main room of the HuntsLair. Assembled around the chamber were a series of cots and armored Keyblade Wielders standing next to piles of what, even from up here, could clearly be identified as medical equipment. And in the center of the floor was an elaborate series of runes and symbols carved into the floor and filled with what appeared to be blood.

At the edge of the circle of symbols sat none other than the escaped Madame Gao, flanked on either side by a blonde woman and a man with pink hair. Vanitas' eyes narrowed as he recognized the faces of Marluxia and Larxene standing at the edge of the circle. While he would love to simply warp down and pound their faces in, he had enough self-control to recognize that they needed to wait and see what was going on.  _This is too elaborate for them to just be looking for someone or trying to dig up weapons that haven't been used for a decade. Something else is going on._ He relayed his concerns to the rest of the team, and the group spread out from there. Down below, Gao began to chant in what sounded to the C.I.N. agents like ancient Atlantean.

Vanitas, Quake, Sparkplug, Violet, Shego, Cloud, Sif, Zack, and Sparkplug each took up positions around the circle. As they did so, the chanting rose to a crescendo, and in a flash of greenish-yellow light, thirteen figures appeared in the circle. The Unchained medics raced forward and carried the new arrivals over to what was now clearly a makeshift triage facility while the heroes observing from the shadows looked on in shock.  _They're not after a weapon!_ Quake and Vanitas realized at the same time.  _They're resurrecting the Huntsclan._ In the time it took to relay the discovery and come up with a battle strategy, the ritual had been repeated a total of twelve times, bringing the number of Huntsclan members brought back from the dead to one hundred and fifty-six.

This could not be allowed to continue. As Gao began to chant for the thirteenth time, Vanitas signaled to the others, and the strike team made their move. The battle was on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shego is one of my all-time favorite animated TV villains, and I've wanted to have a few paragraphs from her perspective for a while now. I wanted to show that while she and Drakken have walked away from trying to take over the world, their personalities are still the same regardless of the fact that they're now working for S.H.I.E.L.D., and that their redemption wasn't something that happened over night. And while my head-canon on the actual show was that they were pardoned, here I decided to make it a bit different because I originally had the idea of Drakken and Shego being part of the KP universe's answer to the Suicide Squad.
> 
> Shego's comments about her and Drakken's relationship upgrade are a reference to the amazing fic [Maslow](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3627510/1/Maslow). The KiGo comment was meant to be a humourous jab at all the internet ship wars I've heard about over Kim/Shego vs. Kim/Ron.


	8. Bouncing Back

#### Earth – Bogota, Colombia

#### October 16th, 2021

"Alright everyone," Agent Alphonso Mackenzie called out as the assembled team unstrapped themselves once their Quinjet touched down in Bogota. "Here's the drill. The Columbian public seems to be accepting the supernatural community surprisingly well so far, but the United Nations hotline has been receiving complaints about the Columbian National Police harassing and attacking any non-humans. S.H.I.E.L.D. has been asked to step in and assess the situation before deciding on the best course of action. Here's the mission assignments: Joey, Yo-Yo, and I will canvas the mundane side of town, interview people about what's going on. Tremors and Violet will handle the supernatural end of the investigation. Bobbi and Hunter will start preliminary interviews with the police and see how far up this corruption goes."

"While Chocobo Head and I will snoop around for signs of the Huntsclan," Zack finished as he slung his thin sword across his back while Cloud did the same behind him. The Secret Warriors' attack on the old Huntslair in New York City had disrupted the ritual the Unchained Legion had been performing, and even managed to take out a few of the newly revived Huntsmen. But at the same time, Gao, Lerena, Aurilam, and the Huntsmaster had managed to escape the underground base, along with over half of the remaining Huntsclan members and nearly all of the abandoned weapons caches. When they'd received the mission briefing, Cloud had speculated that the surplus weapons were being distributed to groups prejudiced against the magical community. Director Hill and Vanitas agreed with the possibility, and sent the duo along to investigate.

"Remember to be discreet when we interview people," Yo-Yo advised her boyfriend as the teams began to gear up for their respective missions. "We may not be able to finish this all at once and if the police see us going door to door then people will start to be silenced or coerced into not saying anything before we can get to them." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. This was a delicate situation and they needed to tread cautiously. Any number of things could go wrong, which was why everyone was wearing every kind of protective armor that they could under their seemingly mundane attire.

"We understand," Joey replied as everyone finished gearing up, and with the push of a button, the Quinjet's boarding ramp descended. The teams all headed out and from the airport and began making their way towards their own respective destinations. Mack, Joey, and Yo-Yo decided to start by interviewing the people who lived closest to Bogota's equivalent to New York City's Magus Bazaar, so they followed Quake and Violet as they lead the way towards the hub of the small country's magical society. Meanwhile Bobbi and Hunter drove their rented van to the headquarters of the Columbian police, leaving Cloud and Zack to handle their own investigation.

It was at least nine hours before anyone who'd gotten off that Quinjet got any chance to catch their breath. After three hours of interviews, investigations, and forensics work, the three teams reconvened at the Quinjet to sit down, thoroughly go over everything they'd uncovered, and plan their next move. Cloud and Zack's detective work confirmed that the Unchained Legion was supplying the corrupt members of the Columbian National Police with Huntsclan tech to harass and persecute the magical community. Bobbi and Hunter's investigation, meanwhile, revealed that there were still some police officers in the department who weren't corrupt or xenophobic, and had just enough numbers to make some serious internal changes.

With the aid of the Columbian Dragon, Cloud and Zack followed the latest shipment of weapons back to the warehouse where the Unchained were storing their stockpile of Huntsclan technology. After taking a few moments to plant explosives, the three of them detonated the warehouse to remove the weapons cache from the playing field. Meanwhile, on their way back from the magical social hub, Daisy and Violet stumbled upon a squad of Huntsclan gearing up to attack the supernatural shopping area. The two superheroes quickly intervened to stop the attack before it began, forcing them into a direct confrontation with the Unchained Legion. As soon as they had engaged the enemy, Mack sent Joey to help them.

The rest of the group, by comparison, had things much easier. After gathering an overwhelming amount of evidence and witness testimony from Columbians both mundane and magical, Mack, Yo-Yo, Bobby, and Hunter bypassed the police and went straight to the Columbian government for assistance. Between them and the members of the police force who weren't corrupt, most of the officers responsible for the persecution of the magical community and harassment of the mundane humans who spoke out against their actions were swiftly suspended and incarcerated. Once the whole mess was over with, everyone returned to the Quinjet battered, weary, and exhausted. They were just about to sit down and go to sleep for the flight back to base when the call came in about HYDRA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bunch of chapter titles for these one-shots are borrowed from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3 episodes, since I finished this fic over the summer after that season ended. 
> 
> I'd wanted to incorporate this episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. into the story ever since I decided to write this fic. Since the Terrigenesis outbreak didn't happen in this universe like it did in the actual MCU, Lucio is just a regular corrupt cop instead of an Inhuman cop who goes on to serve HYDRA. Likewise, certain characters who are Inhumans in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. don't have powers here such as Hellfire and Giyera, so the Inhuman population will be much lower than in canon. I apologize if this universe's version of the Columbian police is inaccurate to real life, as this was based on how they were depicted in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.


	9. Failed Experiments

#### Earth – Union City, Wyoming

#### October 17th, 2021

"Unit One is in position," Melinda May called out into the comms as she led a team consisting of herself, Agent Piper, Even, and a handful of field agents around to the back entrance of the warehouse being used as HYDRA's main laboratory. They'd received intel that the last of HYDRA's forces had holed themselves up in the abandoned town of Union City yesterday afternoon, and it had taken the remainder of the day to marshal their forces for an assault on the terrorist base. The place had originally been a mining town, before contamination in the aquifers used to harvest the abundant natural gas forced most of the townspeople to abandon the place.

The handful who hadn't were evicted when HYDRA used former World Security Council member Gideon Malick's considerable fortune to purchase the town and claim it as their new base of operations. As soon as they found that out, Director Hill had given full authorization to launch an attack on the terrorist group's new lair in conjunction with the United States military to kill the seemingly un-killable beast before the villains could put down roots and rebuild. For "Operation Hercules (as Coulson preferred to call it, pointing out how the Greek hero had bee the one to defeat the mythological beast)" to succeed, each strike group needed to attack with brutal swiftness and laser-focused precision.

"Bravo unite is ready," Quake responded as she finished gearing up for battle alongside a squad of United States marines under the command of General Talbot. Since the Society of Advanced Cultural Knowledge wasn't ready to reveal itself to the world just yet, nor did Vanitas think that Talbot was ready for the whole "Keyblade War" info dump, he, Cloud, and Zack would be part of a separate unit patrolling the deceptively named "City's" perimeter to make sure that HYDRA's goons didn't try to make a break for it once the attacks finally began. If even one of those terrorists managed to escape, they could restart the organization from scratch, as Arnim Zola and the early leaders of the Cult of Jenova had done countless times over the last several thousand years.

"Group three is good to go," Mack finished the roll call over the radio after giving Yo-Yo a quick kiss for luck before the battle began. Joey, Rinoa, and Cobra Bubbles geared up for battle behind him, along with a bunch of other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents whose names the engineer could never hope to remember. Once all three strike groups were in position, Director Hill began counting down over the comms until the moment the attack was scheduled to begin. When the countdown reached zero, the three teams stormed the HYDRA base guns blazing. It was time to cut off every head this monster of an organization had and burn the bloody stumps before more could grow back.

HYDRA was caught with its pants down as S.H.I.E.L.D. and the U.S. military stormed into their new stronghold. Ten soldiers went down before they could react to the intrusion and organize a counter-offensive. But by the time HYDRA managed to mount a halfway decent defense of their new facilities, it was already too late.

In his office, Gideon Malick frantically drummed his fingers on his desk as he waited for his call to go through. Maleficent had been preparing to attack the Galactic Federation's capital planet for the past week in a bid to lure the Legion out into the open, and she would not be pleased by his interruption right as she finally put her plans into action.

"What is it, Malick?" Maleficent demanded as the dark fairy's emerald face appeared on the screen. "I'm in the middle of our Turo offensive. This had better be important enough to interrupt me in our efforts to flush the Legion out of hiding."

"I assure you, madam," Malick answered. "It's a matter of life and death. S.H.I.E.L.D. has found HYDRA's last remaining base and they're invading it as I speak. They're being accompanied by the United States military and two warriors who appear to be from the Coalition. They've already taken out conventional means of escape and if we hope to use my position to further our goals, I'll need an extraction." Despite the fall of HYDRA, Gideon Malick was too wealthy and well connected to ever be apprehended as a leader of HYDRA. It was how he had managed to rebuild after the loss of Wolfgang von Strucker's Sokovian base after all. But if he was captured here and now there would be no way to deny his connection to the ancient terrorist group.

"Very well," Maleficent replied with an irritated sigh. "I'll be sending Diablo to extract you and as many HYDRA operatives as possible to our moon base via Dark Corridor. From there, you can regroup and return to a more secured location on Earth's surface. Diablo will only be making one trip, so I would advise you to bring along the subordinates whose skills are essential to our cause. All others will be left to face the judgement of our enemies. Do I make myself clear, Gideon?"

"As crystal, my lady," Gideon responded before the call ended and the connection went dead. By only evacuating a select few HYDRA agents, Maleficent was sending a very clear message. HYDRA's usefulness to the Hellfire Club was nearing its end, and the agency itself was struggling forward on its last legs. Only those who could contribute to the dark sorceress's goals would be allowed continued membership in the alliance. Everyone else would be left out to dry. So without hesitation, Malick quickly ran through a list of HYDRA agents actively contributing to the Hellfire Club's agenda who were still stationed at the base and ordered those who weren't captured to report to his office immediately. He didn't mention that they would be evacuating the base, knowing that those who were being thrown to the wolves would lash out when they realized that they were being hung out to dry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only thing that this chapter has in common with the AOS episode of the same name is the setting. The heroes went in guns blazing this time instead of trying to sneak around and investigate.


	10. The Inside Man

#### Earth – Taipei, Taiwan

#### October 18th, 2021

"Good afternoon," Coulson called out as the various delegates all took their seats around the table. After the exposure of the magical world and the Inhumans coming out of hiding, the international community had scrambled to arrange a symposium on how to respond to these sudden revelations. Taipei had been chosen to host the symposium, and S.H.I.E.L.D. had been asked to moderate the conference as a neutral party. Now, it was finally time for the conversation to begin.

"Thank you all for coming out here on such short notice," he went on. I'm Phil Coulson, deputy director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and it's nice to finally put a face to everyone's names. As I'm sure you're all aware, this past week the world was rocked by the revelation that magic, evles, fairies, dragons… things we thought of as mere myth and legend have now been confirmed as real, tangible beings. And then a few days later, the world got even weirder, when a secret community of gifted individuals sent a representative to the United Nations. The governments of the world have organized this meeting in the hope that by working together, we can come to a consensus on how to respond to these revelations."

"Before we begin our conversation," General Talbot interjected once Coulson had finished speaking. "Let's start by establishing our baseline of what we know about these communities and their intentions."

"We don't know much about the magical community," Coulson replied. "But we do know that the enhanced individuals call themselves Inhumans."

"What kind of a name is that?" the Australian representative retorted. "Is it mean to intimidate us? Mock us?"

"Not at all," Coulson answered. "In fact, once the community came out of hiding we learned that a handful of our agents were secret Inhumans, and they gave us an in depth explanation of Inhuman culture. Thousands of years ago, the Kree Empire came to our planet looking to genetically engineer slave soldiers for their armies. The Inhumans were the humans chosen to be lab rats, only to turn against their tormentors. Under the leadership of the Boltagon dynasty, the Inhumans an empire that spanned all of Asia before the capital and much of their leadership were wiped out in a coup. With the loss of their leadership, prejudice and persecution from mundane humanity forced the remaining Inhumans into hiding."

"Their descendants now live in an isolate compound known as Lai Shi," he explained. "It functions as a halfway house and haven for Inhumans. Their abilities can only be activated by the Terrigen crystals used by the Kree in the original experiments, and any Inhuman descendant who wants to awaken their dormant powers undergoes a strict physical and psychological evaluation. They're as human as we are, just with a little something extra."

"That something extra could destroy us all, Agent Couslon," another delegate commented.

"Only if we make them our enemy," Coulson rebuttled. "General Talbot and I have met with their leaders, and for the most part they just want to be allowed to live in peace. Humanity's fear of the unknown is why they've been living in hiding in the first place. The exposure of the magical community made them decide that it would be better to reveal themselves on their terms rather than wait for others to drag them into the spotlight."

"Speaking of which," Gideon Malick added, causing Coulson to grimace. Because of his connections, Malick was able to avoid being prosecuted as a member of HYDRA, and had managed to snag himself a seat at this symposium as an independent advisor. Since HYDRA was allied with Maleficent, there was no way Malick's presence at the conferece could possibly mean anything good. "Let's talk about the elephant in the room. Magic. Is. Real. Inhumans are one thing. As Agent Coulson said, they want to be left in peace and are primarily only gathered in one main settlement. But does anyone else in this room feel safe knowing that a fire breathing dragon could fly overhead and burn this building to the ground at any time?"

While the Australian representative voiced similar fears, Coulson (and by extension everyone at the Playground listening in over the comm device in his ear) was heartened to hear most of the delegates in the room disagreeing with Malick's attempt to play on mankind's fear of the unknown. The Taiwanese delegate pointed out that if dragons were a threat to the public there would have been more dragon attacks by now and the supernatural community would have been exposed that much sooner. The Russian delegate Anton Petrov's proposal for a sanctuary state was deemed redundant since the Inhumans and supernatural communities had their own settlements already established.

Immediately after the sanctuary idea was shot down, Malick proposed a census of each nation's magical and Inhuman populations. As much as every S.H.I.E.L.D. agent present wanted to punch the HYDRA leader in the teeth, the idea itself was a reasonable one. Governments needed to be able to know how high their population was for things like surveys, taxes, etc. Coulson just wished that it hadn't been proposed by Gideon Malick, since they could all tell that he didn't propose it for altruistic motives, no matter what anyone ignorant of his connection to HYDRA would believe.

Coulson was about to call for the delegates to wrap up the discussion and move on to drafting a formal agreement on their respective nations' responses to the magical and Inhuman population when a Corridor of Darkness opened at the entrance to the room. A dark-haired man with a seemingly bird like nose emerged from the swirling mass of darkness, accompanied by two dozen Leroys and a squad of Dark Elves. Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. team took cover behind columns and desks as the Hellfire Club troops opened fire on the symposium's security guards.

"Good afternoon to you all," the raven-like man greeted with faux cheerfulness as he blasted Coulson away from the podium at the head of the Hellfire Club. "My name is Diablo, and on behalf of the magical peoples of the world, you are now our prisoners. For too long our kind have lived in the shadows, afraid to bring down the wrath of humanity upon our heads. But no more! The time has come for us to take back the planet that was rightfully ours!" The shape-shifting bird's speech was cut off when Melinda May emerged from behind her cover and opened fire on the bird, forcing him to dodge out of the way to avoid a lethal shot.

From there, chaos ensued as the delegates ducked under the table to avoid getting killed in the crossfire as the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents began to fight back against the intruder. The Leroys were relatively easy to subdue, as while the creations of Jumba Jookiba were all bulletproof, the gunfire served to distract the red Stitch knock-offs long enough for Bobbi and Hunter to get close enough to knock them unconscious. As Diablo surveyed the scene before taking flight out of a newly smashed window, Coulson spotted Gideon Malick and Anton Petrov "fleeing" out the back door, sneaking low to the ground to "avoid" gunfire.

 _Yeah right,_ Coulson remarked as a Dark Elf was knocked over by a blast of fire from the Taiwanese Dragon, who had been monitoring the building in case of emergency, as she dived in through the windows.  _More like this whole thing was planned so that Malick could get at least one politician in the Hellfire Club's pockets._ Behind the Taiwanese Dragon, a small militia of local magical creatures burst in through the main entrance of the room to help fight off the Dark Elves and Leroys. It was almost embarrassing how quickly the battle was over, in retrospect. The entire skirmish had taken less than an hour, and yet Petrov and Malick managed to sneak past security.  _Where the hell did they go?_ Coulson thought to himself as he did a head count to see who was still alive.  _Wait a minute… We're missing two._

"Hunter, Bobbi, are you there?," Couslon called out over the comms. "Come in. Over."

"Sorry," Hunter whispered back, a faint rumble in the background. "Can't talk right now, boss. We're in the belly of the beast. We'll call you when we land."  _Wherever that may be,_ the British-accented S.H.I.E.L.D. agent added mentally as he turned to face his wife as they sat in the cramped cargo hold of Gideon Malick's private jet, bound for Russia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since S.H.I.E.L.D. is still a public and legitimate organization in this universe, I felt it would be fitting for Coulson to be the one chosen to take the lead at the whole "magic/Inhuman" symposium thing, since he'd be able to keep things running smoothly while also keeping the conversation unbiased. I had the global reaction to the Inhumans (and magic) in this universe be more positive than it is in MCU canon because I didn't want to just copy the storylines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for this story, even if I quoted or referenced specific scenes that aren't part of this timeline.


	11. Parting Shot

#### Earth – Somewhere in Russia

#### October 18th, 2021

"Malick's convoy is heading our way," Bobbi announced over the comms as she and Hunter ran through the frozen Russian forests away from the airfield where Gideon Malick's private jet had landed. Hunter passed his wife the target designator as he stretched to relieve the stiffness in his limps after being cooped up in the cargo hold of a plane for the night. "Bird to Zephyr, Painting target. Do you copy?"

"Copy that bird," Fitz answered from where he and Coulson were flying towards the two agents' location aboard the Zephyr One, a large plane that doubled as a base and could remain airborne for days at a time. As soon as the battle in Taipei had been mopped up, the core team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who'd helped rebuild the agency after HYDRA's infiltration had boarded the plane and were making a beeline for the Siberian wilderness as fast as the Zephyr could carry them. "Target's lit. We're tracking now." If they could get ahold of the HYDRA leader before he could sink his fangs into the Russian government, they could go a long way towards weakening the Hellfire Club.

"Okay," Fitz explained as Coulson, Jemma, Mack, and Daisy gathered around the console on the Zephyr's bridge. "It looks like Malick's convoy is heading for this decommissioned power plant about thirty kilometers away." After a brief discussion on why Malick and Petrov where going there, Fitz relayed the information to Lance and Bobbi and informed that they would need to find their own transportation. Fortunately, they were able to hijack a passing jeep, and they arrived at the power plant by nightfall.

While the Hunters did a quick visual inspection of the plant, Fitz was able to confirm that the lining in the power plant's walls made it unreadable by infrared imaging or ground-penetrating radar. To the surprise of absolutely nobody involved in the conversation, that was a bright red flag that Petrov was hiding something. After Coulson promised to send back-up their way as soon as possible, Bobbi and her husband began discussing more mundane topics like their upcoming wedding anniversary (technically the anniversary of the second time they got married, rather than the first, but who's counting?) and possible vacation ideas.

After a few minutes of conversation, they were caught off guard when a squad of Russian soldiers showed up. If S.H.I.E.L.D. weren't still a legitimate organization, they would have had to bluff their way out by pretending to be lost tourists. Instead, all they had to do was flash their badges and explain what they were doing and the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents would be allowed in. At least, that's what normally happened in urgent situations like this. Unfortunately, these soldiers were apparently involved in whatever scheme Gideon Malick was cooking up out here, forcing Bobbi and Lance to knock the squad unconscious before they could reveal their location.

Their suspicions were confirmed and their confusion amplified when a voice announced in Russian over the radio that the cabinet ministers had arrived. But investigating would have to wait a few minutes. A cloaked Quinjet landed in a nearby clearing. After meeting up with Daisy, Mack, and May to discuss their strategy, the five agents split up. Bobbi, Daisy, and Mack headed for the compound's security hub to try and get eyes on Gideon Malick, while Lance and May went to scope out the perimeter defenses in secret. While S.H.I.E.L.D. did have the international authority to operate in almost every country, they had no way of knowing at this point whether the Prime Minister knew what was going on, and were going to confirm that he wasn't before presenting their findings to him.

The questions began to pile up when Lance and May ducked into a shipping container to avoid being spotted by security patrols, only to find a dead body lying on the floor, covered by a tarp. Puncture marks in his neck and a stake lodged in his chest provided a pretty big clue as to how he'd died.

"This could be a problem," May commented as she shined her flashlight over the body.

"You know him?' Hunter asked as he set the tarp down.

"Yuri Krupin," Melinda explained. "He's the Russian Prime Minister's personal attaché. We need to get this to Coulson and Simmons." Elsewhere, Mack, and Daisy had successfully infiltrated the security office and were going over the security camera footage while Bobbi slipped into the uniform of the soldier she'd just knocked out and went off to go spy on Malick's party. In the central room of the power plant, Gideon Malick, Anton Petrov, and a contingent of Russian soldiers were gathered around a table with blueprints on them when Bobbi sneaked into the back of the room.

"Gideon," Petrov began. "On behalf of the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Minister of Emergency Situations, we all welcome you. And we would be very grateful for your assistance because I'm afraid our shared vision of a world where the mundane and the paranormal can peacefully coexist is in jeopardy." Listening in over the comms, Coulson couldn't help but feel sorry for Petrov. His heart was in the right place, he was just making the mistake of thinking that Malick and his backers had the same altruistic motives as he did. All sympathy vanished when Petrov explained that the Prime Minister had sent Krupin to shut down the sanctuary project, apparently because his opposition supported it.

S.H.I.E.L.D. listened in as Petrov explained that General Androvitch, a former KGB assassin now serving as Russia's minister of defense, had killed Krupin, finding the attaché's position on the exposure of the magical community. The reason the general found it offensive was because he was apparently a vampire, which explained the method of Krupin's death.

"It's the world's first supernatural politician," Daisy remarked as she watched the gathering over the security cameras.

"Yeah," Mack commented. "One who happens to have access to nuclear launch codes." The team listened in with growing concern as, when Petrov pleaded with Malick to help smooth over the incident to ensure that their dream would not die there that day, Gideon instead followed with a speech about the choices humanity would have to make in order to ensure their survival before suggesting that they let the general loose and allow him to solve the problem for them.

"This isn't about equality or a sanctuary," Coulson exclaimed in horror. "Malick's staging a coup." Immediately, the plan changed from gathering intel to thwarting the imminent attempt on the Prime Minister's life. As she was tailing Malick, a Russian official who joined the group on the way from the back of the pack noticed that Bobbi's uniform was incorrect, forcing her to knock the man unconscious. This delayed her long enough for the door to close, cutting her off from pursuing Petrov and Malick. While Daisy got to work trying to open the door for her, Mack spotted the general on the security cameras being released from his restraints by a couple of FSO agents and two guards.

"That's not creepy at all," the mechanic remarked with deadpan sarcasm as he watched one of the guards bring him an open glass cup filled with a dark fluid that, considering the revelation of his vampiric status, was obviously blood. When Lance and May spotted Malick leaving the building, the team began to speculate on why Malick sowed the seeds of a coup and appeared to be leaving without the assassin. That question was quickly answered when Fitz detected helicopters flying in formation towards the compound. Once they were identified as AM138s, Coulson immediately realized that Malick didn't need to take the General anywhere because the Prime Minister was coming to them.

"Alright everyone, listen up!" The deputy-director of S.H.I.E.L.D. announced over the comms. "This hit is going down here and now. The Russian Prime Minister is arriving and there's a vampire assassin on the loose. You need to stop him. Director Hill has been busy with congressional and U.N. meets ever since the magical world was exposed, but this is big enough that I'm going to call and fill her in on the situation. Fitz, send a message to the Prime Minister with a recording of Malick's little speech attached for proof. Try to warn him what he's flying into before it's too late." Unfortunately, it turned out that Fitz was unable to reach the man before the choppers landed. Which meant that the only way to save the Russian leader's life was to act quickly and apprehend the general.

The battle that followed was quick, but the consequences were high. While they had managed to save the Prime Minister's life, Gideon Malick got away. All of the conspirators ended up dead in the ensuing firefight, and despite their good intentions, Bobbi and Hunter were placed under arrest. While S.H.I.E.L.D. did have international authority and they had just saved the Prime Minister Olshenko's life, the deaths of three highly-decorated members of the Russian government in cold blood on Russian soil had created a serious international incident. Lance and Bobbi would be lucky if they didn't end up spending the rest of their lives in prison by the time Interpol's investigation was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to make General Androvitch a vampire rather than an Inhuman because I wanted to keep the plot of this particular episode of S.H.I.E.L.D. intact even without the Terrigen outbreak


	12. A Spy's Goodbye

#### Earth – Moscow; Interpol Black Site

#### October 19th, 2021

"How you're alive, sitting here is a miracle to me," the Interpol investigator remarked as he closed the file and walked over to where S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Bobbi Hunter was handcuffed to the table. The Russian government was tense after the previous day's events, and it had taken a great deal of negotiation on the part of Director Hill and the President just to get Interpol involved and to keep Bobbi and Lance from being shoved in front of a firing squad with no questions asked. The two were now being interrogated at an Interpol Black Site in Moscow as investigators interviewed both them and their fellow agents to determine the repercussions of their actions the previous night. Unfortunately, the interrogator sent by Interpol was quickly turning out to be a bit of an asshole.

"You're lucky that your agency intervened," the investigator remarked. "That Interpol was brought in at all. For something as serious as this?" Although this was technically an investigation, the Russian government had requested that the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents responsible for the deaths of the conspirators (namely Lance and Bobbi) be restrained. Hence the handcuffs. If S.H.I.E.L.D. weren't still a legitimate agency, Bobbi might have mouthed off to the Interpol officer and done everything she could to make herself and her husband look as innocent as possible. Since S.H.I.E.L.D. was still a legitimate organization, though, the couple simply needed to answer the investigators' questions completely and honestly.

The interrogations and interviews went on for the next seven hours, as Inspector Duval and the other Interpol agents interviewed the members of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team present on the ground at the time of the battle in the facility about what had happened and why. Once all of the interviews were complete, Inspector Duval came to deliver his report of the incident to the Russian Prime Minister and Director Hill. While Dimitri Olshenko understood that S.H.I.E.L.D. had thwarted an attempt on his life, for which he was very grateful, the deaths of three officials of his government could not pass without consequence. And since Bobbi and Hunter had been the ones to kill Androvitch and Petrov, that meant that they were the ones who were going to endure the worst of the fallout.

Since they had just stopped an assassination attempt against the Prime Minister, Coulson and Hill were able to negotiate on Bobbi and Hunter's behalf for them to receive a lighter penalty. The couple would be discharged from S.H.I.E.L.D. and be prohibited from joining any other intelligence organization in the future, effectively making them "burned assets." Because of the monumental nature of what that would mean for the two of them, Coulson insisted that the couple be allowed to make that choice themselves.

"We took an oath," Bobbi answered once Coulson finished explaining what their options were. "To  _be_  the shield."

"To protect those in danger," Hunter added.

"And right now," Bobbi continued. "The right thing to do is just take the bullet. We've discussed it and we agreed that it's time." Coulson nodded solemnly in understanding. He knew this was a difficult moment for all of them. While S.H.I.E.L.D. could have found a way to keep them out of the crosshairs, public opinion be damned, it was a testament to their loyalty to S.H.I.E.L.D. that they would willingly burn themselves for the agency's continued ability to operate internationally.

"I'll have your things sent to you," he replied sadly. "I would like to thank you both for your bravery, and for the sacrifice you've made."

"We're so sorry it came to this, sir," Bobbi answered as Inspector Duval came in and unlocked their handcuffs. Once they were released, they were read a long list of terms for their release – that they never join or associate with any intelligence agency, save for if they were a key witness in a case, etc. – before being escorted out of the building. Without a chance to say goodbye to their friends. The Interpol agents dropped them off at a hotel in Moscow with a farewell package from Coulson with enough cash for a hotel room and two plane tickets back to the U.S. Once they had checked into a room and booked a flight back to the United States, the couple went out in search of a long-awaited meal.

A few hours later, Lance and Bobbi were eating dinner at a bar in one of Moscow's more tourist-oriented districts. With their careers as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents totally and permanently over, they were discussing what to do for their new vacation time before they started looking for jobs. They were still part of the Society of Advanced Cultural Knowledge even if they were no longer S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, so the other members of the society would be able to help them find work outside of the intelligence community.

"What about Trinidad and Tobago?" Bobbi suggested as the waitress cleared their empty plates.

"Always loved the name," Lance remarked as he took another sip of his beer. "But I once had a run-in there with a Nigerian drug dealer there, so… Maybe Bora Bora? Think we'll be followed there?"

"I don't know," Bobbi answered as she looked across the room at the conspicuous Interpol agents assigned to monitor the two burned agents to make sure they weren't going to do anything illegal now that they were no longer employed S.H.I.E.L.D. "It'll be a long time before anybody in the intelligence business trusts us again."

"I'm afraid they never will, luv," Lance quipped. His wife nodded her head in agreement while he raised his hand to request their check. They were surprised when the waitress instead delivered a full shot glass to their table.

"I didn't order that," Bobbi protested.

"I know," the waitress replied. "You've got an admirer."

"Who?" Lance asked.

"They asked me not to say," the woman answered. As she left, the two former spies looked around the room for any sign of who could have sent them the drink before Hunter spotted a young brunette sitting in a corner booth.

"Oh, it's Jemma," Lance said. "Why doesn't she…?" He trailed off as his brain finished answering his own question. "Oh," he commented instead. "She can't, can she?"

"You guys must be popular," the waitress remarked as she delivered another shot glass to their table. Bobbi looked around before her husband caught sight of Fitz standing by himself in the corner.

"It's a spy's goodbye," Bobbi explained as the waitress continued to deliver drinks to their table. The two married agents caught sight of May, Daisy, Sif, Hill, and Mack giving them small smiles of acknowledgement as their friends subtly wished them all farewell. Even Vanitas's C.I.N. team, despite not knowing them for very long, had joined in the silent farewell. One by one, the core team that had helped rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. after the HYDRA uprising, along with the four C.I.N. operatives, lifted their shot glasses up in a silent toast to their disavowed comrades. On cue, they all tipped back their glasses and drank. Once they were finished, the agents discreetly exited the restaurant one by one, each offering a bittersweet smile as they bid their friends farewell.

Mack was the last to leave, tears in his eyes as he finished off his shot glass before passing as close to their table as he could without attracting unwanted attention. He offered his friends one more smile. They would still see many of them at Society meetings, but it still wouldn't be the same at S.H.I.E.L.D. without the Hunters being part of the team. Once they had finished off all of their numerous shots, the now former Agents Hunter paid for their meal and returned to their hotel. They had a flight to California leaving the next morning, and after the stress they'd gone through the previous night and all of that morning, they wanted to just collapse into bed and rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm of two minds about Bobbi and Hunter's exit from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. On the one hand, I was frustrated that they left because they're two of my favorite characters and the fact that their spin-off got left on the cutting room floor again just made it even worse. But on the other hand, their farewell episode was really amazing and that last scene with the "Spy's Goodbye" was so emotional and sad and heartwarming at the same time that I just always love the episode. So when I decided to have a fanfic in my Acolytes of Chaos Saga focusing on S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Kingdom Hearts verse, I knew that I was going to recreate that no matter how much it broke my heart to write and read it.


	13. A Fractured House

#### Earth – The Playground

#### October 20th, 2021

"What have we got?" Vanitas asked as he strode into the office to find Director Hill, Agent Coulson, Lady Sif, Peggy Rogers, and Agent Johnson gathered around the wall monitor. After the Hunters' expulsion from S.H.I.E.L.D., most of the agents operating out of the Playground had spent the night on base while Daisy threw herself into mining Black Widow's intel on the Unchained Legion to see if she could hack into their communication networks. Clearly, she'd found something, if the fact that the leadership of the three factions combating the immortal Keyblade Masters were meeting at two o' clock in the morning was any indication.

"I managed to briefly hack into the Legion's communications web an hour ago," Daisy explained. "I got kicked out pretty quickly, but I did manage to pick up some chatter that they were planning on staging an attack on the U.N. later this afternoon. They're trying to make it look like the supernatural community is behind it to convince everyone to declare war against the magical races."

"This makes no sense," Sif commented. "We know that the Huntsclan are a subsidiary of the Unchained Legion, but we do not understand why."

"I actually managed to dig through Agent Romanov's personal notes in her Unchained files," Quake replied. "During the Keyblade War, most of the Unchained Legion's members were protecting innocent civilians caught in the crossfire between the other four guilds, but since there were a lot of magical criminals taking advantage of the chaos and targeting humans, the Unchained became prejudiced against the supernatural community, lumping them in with all the other "evils of the world" that they want to destroy."

"So by attacking the U.N., they hope to get humanity at large to do it all for them," Coulson surmised as Daisy flicked a finger over her tablet. One of the conditions with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s U.N. charter for them to remain operational and legitimate after the HYDRA uprising was a limit to the number of years a director could hold the post, so as Maria Hill's second in command, Phil was in position to take over as Director when Maria stepped down. Hill was only three years left as Director, meaning that it was time for him to start seriously looking at who he would pick to be his second in command and successor when his own tenure as Director came to an end. He'd narrowed down his top tour choices to Melinda Garner, Alphonozo Mackenzie, Jemma FitzSimmons, and Daisy Johnson.

"We've managed to pinpoint four of their staging areas," Daisy continued as she brought up a map of New York City marked with four blinking dots. "Comm chatter indicates a fifth base, but no details on a location."

"We'll dispatch agents in six teams then," the Director commented. "One team for each set of coordinates, one to guard the entrances to the U.N. building, and another to talk to the magical community's leadership and convince them to help protect the attack and show the world that they're not a threat to society.

"Lincoln and I can take the Secret Warriors and cover the base nearest to the building," Agent Johnson replied.

"Coulson and I can speak with the Dragon Council and the other supernatural leaders," Vanitas added. "Strife, Parr, Fair, and Sif can cover another staging area by themselves."

"The Society of Advanced Cultural Knowledge can supply a squad of combat-trained members for the fourth one," Peggy offered.

"Leaving a team of baseline S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to cover the fourth one while Even and the Defenders protect the U.N. building itself," Hill finished. "Sounds like a plan. Daisy, contact the U.N.'s security and NYPD, let them know that there's a potential terrorist plot to attack the U.N. brewing and make sure we'll have back up. Once we get our agents on the ground in Manhattan, I'll monitor the situation from Zephyr One." Everyone nodded in agreement before dispersing to make preparations and/or catch a few hours of sleep before they shipped out. As he drifted off to sleep in his bed, Vanitas felt glad that they were finally taking action against the Legion once more.

* * *

#### Earth – New York City

#### Twelve Hours Later

"All right, everyone," Coulson announced over the comms. It's time to move." And with those seven simple words, the battle got underway. Since they didn't know when the attack was scheduled to start, the plan was to hit hard and fast once all S.H.I.E.L.D. teams were in position and eliminate the threat before the Unchained Legion could act. In the first hideout, Daisy and the Secret Warriors charged into the Unchained compound, catching a dozen of the Keyblade-wielding immortals off guard and giving them the upper hand. Daisy pinned two Unchained against the wall with her powers while Lincoln fired beams of electricity at the armored warriors. Joey liquefied the non-magical weapons stockpiled in the abandoned storage space, while Shego destroyed the disguises with bursts of green plasma. Yo-Yo managed to knock a third of the Legionnaires unconscious with her speed so that Manifold could teleport them to a holding facility S.H.I.E.L.D. had been working on to contain Keyblade Wielders and other powerful magic users for just this eventuality.

Meanwhile, Sif, Cloud, Violet, and Zack were tearing through the second base like butter. A hate group called the Watchdogs had sprung up since the Inhumans and the magical community were revealed to the mundane world, spewing rhetoric about "taking back the planet". And apparently they had managed to obtain the backing of the Unchained Legion.  _More likely the Legion organized them for exactly this kind of things,_ Cloud thought to himself as he dodged a bullet fired from one of the Watchdogs before retaliate by knocking the man upside the head with the flat of his blade. He heard the distinctive click of a weapon about to fire behind him, but his old friend took care of Zack before the attacker could strike.

Cloud was tremendously glad to see his old friend alive and well on Earth. After The Fall, the blonde had ended up in Olympus Coliseum, alone, terrified, and without a clue of how to survive after months of being Xehanort's lab rat. And then he happened to raid the clothesline of a mansion belonging to one Angeal Hewley. The warriors had offered Cloud food and shelter, and he soon became fast friends with Hewley's adopted son, Zack Fair. For the next five years, Zack and Cloud were practically brothers in all but blood. They played together, trained together, fought together… Not even the occasional argument could damage their bond. And then, Sephiroth showed up.

Shaking his head to focus back on the present, Cloud thanked his friend for the save before kicking a Watchdog trying to sneak up on him in the face. Meanwhile, Sif was simply a juggernaut. Deflecting both bullets and fists with her armor, shield and durable skin, taking out the terrorists' guns with lightning-quick swings of her sword, leaving them wide open for an invisible Violet to take them out with martial arts and periodic use of miniature force fields. As that was going on, the S.A.C.K.'s members, armed with Atlantean weaponry, were holding their own fairly well against the squad of Huntsclan members hiding in the basement of a nearby office building. Rinoa, Isa, Xiruk, and Ludor were fighting off another squad of Unchained on their own, but since most of them already had experience fighting Keyblade Wielders, they were able to make sure that Vinnie, Sweet, Neku, Shiki, Rhyme, and Beat didn't get themselves killed.

The fourth compound was manned by another cell of the Watchdogs, who, as mundane humans, were easy targets for Piper, May, and their team of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents. Within an hour, most of their foes had been dealt with. As each strike team was rounding up their captured foes, their radios crackled to indicate an incoming transmission.

"This is Daredevil," the voice of Matt Murdock announced over the comms. "We're under attack over here. We could use some backup."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Watchdogs were just introduced to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. around the time I was writing this fic, so I decided to include them, only here they're far less of a threat then they ended up becoming in Season 4.


	14. False Flags

#### Earth – The Isle of Draco

#### October 20th, 2021

 _Probably should have opened with that,_ Coulson thought to himself with a satisfied smirk as he watched the five members of the Dragon Council and the representatives of the different magical populations assembled on Draco were alternating over panicking at the news that the Huntsclan had been revived and arguing over how to respond. Councilor Andam banged his gavel repeatedly in a futile attempt to keep order. He and Vanitas had taken the Enchanted Elevator to Draco intent on securing the magical community's aid in dealing with the threat posed by the Unchained and thwarting the impending attack on the U.N. Unfortunately, it was turning out to be harder than they thought.

Upon arrival on the enchanted island, the duo had been met with wariness, suspicion, and concern. No surprise, really, since some countries were actively hunting and dissecting their peoples. They were only allowed to speak with the gathered council after being carefully and thoroughly searched for any and all weapons. They even insisted on Coulson removing the robotic left hand he'd gotten after losing his own during a mission gone sour back in the fall of 2015. And now, everyone was arguing about whether or not to get involved in improving their public image.  _It seems not even the supernatural are immune to the disease of bureaucracy,_ Coulson commented mentally with a smirk.

After listening to a few minutes of the dragons, leprechauns, and vampires debating themselves in circles, he nodded to Vanitas, who sent a Dark Firaga spell up into the air to get everyone's attention. This had the added effect of seeing everyone's eyes widen in shock and wonder as they realized that Vanitas was a Keyblade Wielder. But nevertheless, it got the job done. The entire room fell silent in an instant, and with a gesture from Vanitas to turn the conversation over, all eyes were on Deputy Director Phil Coulson in what he would later consider to be one of the best moments of his career.

"Look," he began. "I get it. I know you're all worried about getting involved because you're afraid of how the government will react, regardless of what the public believes. But this isn't something you can all just stick your heads in the sand for and hope it will go away. There's not enough men-in-black style memory stuff in the world to make mankind forget something of this scale. Not anymore. That's masquerade's been broken beyond repair, and the only option now is to adapt and move forward. Public opinion is 85% in your favor, and right now, the United Nations Security Council is meeting to vote on sending ambassadors here to negotiate a peace treaty."

"But the 15% of the population who feel threatened by dragons and unicorns and leprechauns being real are organizing and arming themselves. They're preparing a terrorist attack on the U.N. to disrupt the vote and frame all of you for the crime. If they succeed, it's going to be World War III. Magic Vs. Mundane, and no matter which side wins, it's going to be a slaughter for both sides. Not to mention all the innocents who support you being caught in the middle. So I'm just going to ask you one last question before we leave to go do something about the hatemongers of society. Regardless of the rebirth of the Huntsclan, are you going to just sit here and keep your heads in the sand and hope the rest of the world will leave you alone? Or will you stand up and make your voices heard before the fearful and hateful few silence you for good?"

With their case made, Coulson nodded to Vanitas. If that didn't convince everyone to support them, he didn't know what would. With nothing else left to say, Coulson and Vanitas turned on their heels and marched out of the room.

"Wait!" a woman's voice called out behind them. The two spy leaders turned around to see the pink-scaled form of the current American Dragon flying up to them. "The leaders of the different magical races may be gridlocked, but there a plenty of people in New York City who can help out. Give me an hour, and I can cobble together some reinforcements. We could really use the good PR, but it's still the right thing to do regardless."

"Thanks," Coulson replied. "We appreciate the assistance. We'll let the boss know. Do you think I could get some names and basic descriptions to give everyone a heads up of who and what to expect?"

"Sure," Haley Long answered as she led the two agents towards the elevator back to New York City.

* * *

**New York City – United Nations Building**

**October 20th, 2021**

Back in New York City, S.H.I.E.L.D., C.I.N., and the S.A.C.K. were all scrambling. They had managed to take out four of the Unchained Legion's staging areas and captured the Huntsclan and Watchdog members attempting to frame the magical world for attacking the U.N. and kick start a war. A joint team of S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.A.C.K. agents under the leadership of Neku Sakuraba scoured the city in search of the unknown fifth staging point. So it was with great surprise that Even and the Defenders were caught off guard when Unchained troops began attacking them at the entrances to the building.

Aboard Zephyr One, Agents FitzSimmons pulled up security footage from inside the skyscraper and realized to their horror that the reason Sakuraba's team hadn't found the fifth base was because it was  _inside_ the U.N. headquarters. While Gordon and Manifold teleported the bound and captured prisoners to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s newest incarnation of The Fridge for interrogation, everyone else scrambled to defend the delegates inside. Manifold quickly began teleporting the other teams inside the building to block the Legionnaires' path to the delegates. Despite the sudden nature of the attack, the Secret Warriors managed to set up a perimeter between the Unchained bunker and the actual meeting chambers where the delegates were gathered.

On the outside of the building, however, things were a lot more hectic. Luke Cage was doing fairly well with his unbreakable skin, but the Keyblade wielding immortals' constant barrage of long-range combat spells made launching a counter-offensive difficult.  _Small consolation that I have experience with fighting Keyblade Wielders,_ Even remarked to himself as he called up another ice wall to hold back a Fission Firaga spell.  _The problem is that I lost to Sora, and these Unchained are miles ahead of where he is in terms of both skill and raw power. If only we could find a way to stab them in the back._ The former Chilly Academic raised an eyebrow in curiosity as he noticed two of the Unchained dismissed their Illusion spells (which made them appear as trolls to the untrained eye) and stepped back down a side corridor from the lobby.

Concerned about what was happening, Even radioed the development in to the command team aboard the Zephyr before ordering Spider-Man to provide him with some cover fire from the young man's web shooters. Between that and creative use of his cryokinetic abilities, Even crept down the empty corridor after the two Unchained. At the sound of three voices conversing around the corner up ahead, he quickened his pace. He peaked around the corner to see the two missing Unchained conversing with a salmon-haired figure he'd hoped he'd never have to lay eyes on again.

Marluxia's original self stood with his back to the two Unchained, his gold and violet armor identical to his subordinates' in every way save for the addition of a silver cape with purple lining on the interior side. Enraged, he quickly froze the two Unchained in the most powerful Blizzaza spell he could manage and stepped out of his hiding place.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it, Marluxia?" he commented with acid in his voice as he formed a blade of ice from the end of his shield. The former Graceful Assassin didn't even bother to turn around, but the shift in his stance was a clear indication that he had heard Even's approach.

"Not long enough in my opinion, Vexen," the Organization's former number eleven replied. "I figured you'd come alone. Your pride always did drive most of your thinking. Certainly you rarely thought with your brain."

"Funny," Even retorted. "I was going to say the same of you, you arrogant traitor," and with that, the former Number IV reared back his sword and charged. Meanwhile, out in the front lobby, the Defenders were quickly being outmatched by the Unchained soldiers. Manifold and the Secret Warriors had managed to push the rest of the attackers back into the lobby, but even they were having trouble now that all of their foes were now grouped in one place. Add that to the fact that several more members of the Huntsclan and the Watchdogs had arrived after the initial attack and the heroes and defenders were quickly losing ground.

Just when things seemed bleak, Coulson came charging in accompanied by a cavalry consisting of what must have seemed like half the population of New York. With the addition of the magical community, the battle was quickly reduced to everyone fighting on the side of good against the Unchained Legionnaires. Back in the first floor hallway, Even and Aurilam were dueling intensely, but as an immortal, Marluxia's human self clearly had the upper hand. But despite being outmatched, Even continued to fight on. He had a plan in mind, but there was only one way that he would actually get the chance to put it into action.

"You're a fool, Even," Aurilam remarked as the scientist's ice blade shattered against the floor for the fourth time. "Even if you had the skill and power to face me, two dozen Unchained are still more than a match for your corrupt, decadent comrades." Even countered by creating an ice patch under their feet, but the time it took him to cast the spell was just long enough for the Graceful Assassin to live up to his name. With a blur of motion, Aurilam rushed behind Even and slammed the blade of scythe into the older man's heart. "Looks like I win," he remarked.

"So you say…" Even gasped as he began coughing up blood. "But Axel is not the only Organization member capable of going out in a kamikaze attack." Before Aurilam even had time to widen his eyes in realization at what Even was really planning, the Chilly Academic took a deep breath, drawing every last reserve of magical power, and even a smidge of the latent darkness employed back in his days as a Nobody, fueling and channeling it into a final, desperate attack. And as the scientist breathed his last, a wave of cold air spread through the building, freezing almost every Unchained in the building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I don't necessarily dislike him (in fact Vexen is one of my favorite Organization XIII members), I wanted to kill off a few named characters to slim down the number of balls I'll to juggle when I finally get around to the follow up series, and Even was one of the ones who ended up being minor enough to be considered expendable. I wanted to keep most of the Marvel characters who aren't dead in the MCU yet alive just in case, so I ended up going with one of the original Organization members.


	15. Peace Summit

#### S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet – En Route to Draco

#### October 22nd, 2021

 _Today's the day,_ Maria Hill thought to herself as he glanced around the cabin of the Quinjet at the delegates seated beside him.  _This is the turning point. From here, the world's response to the magical community will either remain as positive as it already is, or change dramatically for the worst._ It had been a chaotic mess the last two days. Sorting through the chaos and aftermath of the U.N. attack mean that everyone involved in the clean-up had faced multiple sleepless nights as S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to keep tensions low. Thankfully, once the public statement on the Watchdogs attempting incite a war against the magical community by framing them for the attack, public opinion of the magical community remained fairly steady.

Despite a few frayed nerves, the United Nations had voted to send ambassadors to the Isle of Draco so that the mundane and magical worlds could work together on paving a way forward for their communities. S.H.I.E.L.D. took charge of transporting everyone to the dragon island, both to ensure security and to make sure that nobody tried to smuggle anything in or out. Now the director was sitting across from the Wakandan king T'Challa as three Quinjets soared across the Pacific Ocean towards their destination. War Machine and Shego flew at the edge of the formation as escorts to protect the transports in the event of an aerial ambush.

Thanks to Even's sacrifice, S.H.I.E.L.D. now had two dozen Unchained popsicles in custody being thawed out for interrogation. The former Nobody didn't have any living family members, but the closest he'd had to family were his fellow members of the Organization, as well as his mentor Ansem the Wise. Yesterday, Daisy had managed to use some of the long-range communication satellites that came with being a member of the Galactic Federation to make contact with Coalition ships staying to help clean up a Hellfire Club invasion of Turo. Vanitas had relayed recent events of Aqua, the Keyblade Master in charge of the relief mission before catching up on recent news of the war with the Club and the Legion from the Coalition's side of things.

Aqua hadn't exactly been friends with Even, but she'd known him from the "Xehanort Survivors Anonymous meetings" they'd gone to together over the years, and she promised to pass on the news to the rest of the group and bring them with her when she arrived on Earth in two weeks. To ensure that his body wouldn't be decayed by the time his fellow researchers and former Nobodies arrived for the funeral, Vanitas had cryogenically preserved the Chilly Academic's corpse so that he would be relatively intact when his friends came to pay their respects.

 _Still can't believe "Xehanort Survivors Anonymous is actually a thing,_ Hill remarked to herself with a chuckle.  _But I digress. After all, if it works, who cares what you call it._ Her thoughts returned to the preset as she looked around and took a head count of the delegates. Besides T'Challa, the most prominent political figure present for the summit was Queen Kida of Atlantis. The lost empire had decided to follow Inhumanity's lead in making their existence public on their own terms. With the delegation that had been put together for this meeting, Director Hill was confident that a peaceful solution would be reached.

Atlantis. The ancient civilization's history had certainly contained a few major ups and downs over the years. Going from one of the major empires of the ancient world to little more than myth and legend scoffed at by historians and scientists alike. And then, six years ago, the ruins of the Atlantean capital unexpectedly grew. As a result of the sealing of Kingdom Hearts following the end of the Xehanort War, the Heart of Atlantis released an enormous burst of energy which drastically terraformed the underground caverns where the semi-aquatic city now dwelt, turning Atlantis from a single, crumbling city to a subterranean island equal in size to their original capital.

While the population of Atlantis was able to re-expand and recover from their nation's devastation in the opening days of the Keyblade War, it had taken them a few decades for the population to begin growing enough for them to repopulate the island. Eager to bring her people back to the surface, Queen Kida and King Milo had spent several years researching for a means of bringing the land mass back above the ocean. After Mr. Whitmore had passed away, their friends had discovered an ancient Atlantean spear in his private collection disguised as a Norwegian spear. Careful research revealed that combining the spear with the Heart of Atlantis would allow the city to return to the surface.

Their eagerness to share Atlantis' survival with the world was tempered by the fact that the political climate and recent outbreak of World War II had left their subjects concerned over how the general public would react to their existence. So they had waited, and now, with the exposure of the magical world and the Inhuman population coming out of hiding, Kida believed that now was finally the right time for Atlantis to emerge from beneath the waves and share their technology with the rest of the world.

Maria Hill's recollection of her recent conversation with the Atlantean monarch came to an end when the Quinjet rocked from the sensation of landing on solid ground, and the pilot announced that they'd arrived at their destination.  _Alright,_ Maria thought to herself.  _It's show time._ And with that, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. took the lead as she marched out of the open ramp of the plane, Kida and T'Challa leading the delegates behind her in their trek across the soil of Draco towards the palace of the Dragon Council. One way or another, the events that were about to transpire would shape the course of human history. They just hoped that it would be for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd had the idea of Atlantis being restored to its pre-cataclysm state by the combined power of Kingdom Hearts and the Heart of Atlantis for a while when I wrote this chapter although I had originally planned on Atlantis being cut off from Earth at the end of The Xehanort War, so I slightly altered that when I decided to keep Atlantis on Earth.


	16. A New Day Is Dawning

#### New York City – United Nations Headquarters

#### October 24th, 2021

"Good afternoon," Maria Hill began as she stepped up to the podium. "As you all know, two weeks ago the world was rocked by the revelation that dragons, unicorns, magic, and other things we considered little more than myth and fantasy, were, in fact, real. Since that time, the Inhuman community and the Atlantean kingdom have made their existence known to the outside world. Over the past eleven days, the governments of the world, both magical and mundane, have scrambled to maintain peace and devise a solution for long term social interaction between our worlds. The Inhuman and magical communities were afraid of being persecuted and discriminated against out of ignorance and hate."

"But despite some early concerns and paranoia, all sides have come a long way," she went on. "All of us live on this planet, and we need to learn to share the world together and live alongside each other as neighbors, and as friends. To that end, the United Nations has established the Supernatural Relations Committee to address any issues that crop up as we try to integrate our communities and work together towards a brighter future." She then went on to introduce the leading public figures chosen to represent the mundane and paranormal spheres. The list included Air Force Colonel James Rhodes, Wakanda King T'Challa, former Chinese dragon Luong Lao Shi, Mythologist Hans Rotwood (who had gained a tremendous heaping of praise and other accolades in the scientific community when it was discovered that his crackpot ideas were actually true), Atlantean King Consort Milo Thatch, teen hero-turned-secret-agent-turned Avenger Kim Possible, Inhuman ambassador Jiaying, and a host of other representatives either magical, Inhuman, and mundane.

"Every member of the United Nations has passed some form of Paranormal Protection Act, granting the magical and Inhuman communities basic rights as protected minorities. The scattered supernatural settlements are being treated as a single nation-state, and Inhuman society is granted the same. From now on killing any supernatural species is a crime, and the same goes from Inhumans. Everyone will be treated equally, human, dragon, elf, gnome, Inhuman, leprechauns, vampires, werewolves, and every magical species alike. We only have one planet, so let's make sure we can live on it together without killing each other."

* * *

**Earth – The Playground; Break Room:**

"That was a pretty blunt speech," Vanitas remarked as he, Cloud, Zack, Violet, Coulson, FitzSimmons, Rinoa, Mack, May, Drakken, Sif, and the Secret Warriors watched the announcement on live television in the break room of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. "Don't get me wrong," he added as Joey passed him the popcorn. "She does a fantastic job as Director dealing with politicians and U.N. panels on a day to day basis but in terms of public speaking to a crowd of civilians, she could use a little practice."

"True," Agent May admitted. "But at least she gets to the point instead of talking in circles without actually saying anything like a lot of politicians I know."

"Fair enough," the dark Keyblade Master replied with a chuckle. "I'm just glad I don't have to deal with imbeciles like those back in Coalition Space." And with that, the agents went back to chatting and running commentary on the press conference and the public reaction to it. Daisy and Shego made their usual dry, witty remarks in response to yet another public figure trying to stir up unrest against the Inhumans, while Sif applauded people for "actually thinking with their brains instead of their guns" when it came to the magical community. While the Unchained Legion was still a major threat, for the rest of the day, they were all just a bunch of secret agents hanging out and enjoying a rare day off before they dove back into the muck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Paranormal Protection Act is inspired by Greg Weisman's comments about the future of the Gargoyles universe, particularly the Gargoyle Minority Protection Act, which in the Gargoyles-verse was passed sometime between 2008 and 2188. I wanted to have something similar for the magical and Inhuman communities in place of something like the Sokovia Accords in Captain America: Civil War since the reaction to magic and super-humans is a lot more positive in this universe than it is in the MCU proper.


	17. The Hunter and the Hunted

#### The Inhuman Empire – Atilan Capital

#### 6,000 B.C.

The thing that emerged from the Terrgenesis Cocoon was no longer Jenova. While the facial structure and upper body did bear her form, her skin was now tinted a shade of blue that almost made Black Bolt and Medusa mistake her for a Kree. Silver hair framed the Inhuman woman's cruel face, and long, spiked tentacles lashed out from where her legs used to be. Behind her stretched a massive, blob-like mass that filled most of the Terrigen Vault. At the sight of the repulsive creature the woman had become, Invi, Valerie, and Ophelia readied their Keyblades for combat and ignited Firaga spells in their hands.

Before anyone could strike, Medusa lashed out with her tentacles and slammed Emperor Boltagon against the wall, leaving deep, bloody wounds across the Inhuman monarch's chest. While the Keyblade Wielders continued to do battle with the monstrosity Jenova had become, Queen Medusa raced to her husband's side. But it was already too late, and the damage too severe to heal. The Empress of Atilan could only watch her beloved die in her arms. Screaming in anguish, she dove into the fray, not caring who she attacked. Jenova, the Keyblade Wielders, Humanity… everyone had to pay for their roles in the sequence of events that had led to her husband's death.

Invi held back as she deflected her old friend's hair-powered blows. She didn't want to hurt Medusa, but her friend was preventing her from dealing with Jenova. And without the Foreteller's assistance Ophelia and Valerie were quickly forced on the defensive. A young Unchained by the name of Victor Gonzales rushed in to help, only for the newborn cosmic horror to wrap her spiked tentacles around the man's leg and whip him around the room like a rag doll. Only Valerie's careful use of Aeroga spells and a well-timed Thundaga Shot from Ophelia managed to save his life, if not his now severed leg.

While Valerie worked quickly to stabilize the man's wounds with Elixirs and a Curaga spell, Invi finally managed to knock Medusa unconscious with a quick but effective headbutt. This managed to free the Foreteller Anguis so that she could reinforce Ophelia in her fight against Jenova. Unfortunately, all dispatching Medusa did was leave her defenseless as Jenova split off a large portion of her cells from her body that rushed forward to consume the Inhuman Queen. Incapable of fighting back while unconscious, Medusa was quickly consumed by Jenova, her abilities and memories added to the whole of Jenova's newly fragmentable consciousness.

While the Unchained were busy fighting Jenova's main form, her cells began to split off from each other and form into a separate body, her consciousness divided between the two of them. Ophelia and Invi were too busy fighting the main body to pursue the split version of Jenova, but the rest of the Unchained in the room took off in pursuit, the last survivors of Blackagar Boltagon's Royal Guard following behind them. Explosions quickly began to bloom across the capital city as Jenova tore through buildings and streets left and right. As Invi dispatched the first Jenova body with a smoothly timed Shotllock, Ophelia and Valerie could only stare out through the hole in the wall with expressions of shock and horror on their faces. What had begun as a revolution to overthrow the Darkened regime of the Inhuman Empire had quickly turned into a slaughter.

* * *

#### Earth – Hong Kong

#### October 25th, 2021

Lerena winced as she recalled the bitter memories of the Keyblade War. The Atilan Sieges had been one of the longest and bloodiest campaigns of the entire conflict, and had left deep emotional scars on all involved, Inhuman and Keyblade Wielder alike. Praetor Gonzales was probably one of the Unchained most affected by that battle. After losing his leg to the mutated Jenova, the man had developed a deep seeded hatred for all Inhumans, and had helped Valerie found the Huntsclan to wipe them all out. But for all his loyalty to The Endgame, Robert had a nasty habit of letting his emotions cloud his judgement and negatively affect his battle strategies. A fact that she, Aurilam, and Skuld hoped to remedy soon.

So much had changed in the last eight thousand years. Society had fallen to social and technological levels not seen since the end of the previous Keyblade War. Valerie (or rather Rose, as she now went by in this life) betraying the Legion and annihilating the Huntsclan. The exposure of the magical world and the Inhuman community coming out of hiding. The scattered, space-faring fragments of the original World forming an alliance to defend themselves against the likes of Xehanort and Maleficent. A Keyblade Wielder who succumbed to the Darkness but could still wield the X – Blade…

With the exception of the formation of the Coalition, all of the above were seen by Lerena as evidence of how humanity had fallen prey to decadence and corruption as the millennia had dragged on.  _All the more reason to finish The Endgame, then,_ Larxene's human self thought silently.  _So that we can correct mankind's downward spiral and put society back on the correct course. Just a few more weeks, and the Infinity Gauntlet will be ours. Sora and the rest of those heretical imbeciles will be reduced to the beasts of burden they were meant to be, the incorrigible of humanity will be destroyed, and the Legion will save the world. At all costs._

The Warden of the Legion's High Council was snapped out of her reflections by the baring of an alarm to indicate a proximity sensor being activated. And since the abandoned Huntsclan lair the resurrected Huntsmen and women were using as their primary base of operations had been abandoned for nearly fifteen years now, there was only one thing that a sudden activation of the alarms could mean. They were under attack. The former Savage Nymph showed that she still lived up to her old Organization XIII-era moniker as she quickly began barking out orders before summoning her electrified knives into the spaces between her fingers. Her "claws" at the ready, she, the HuntsMaster, and four dozen of the best Unchained they had present in the base set out into the abandoned sewer tunnels surrounding the ruined lair.

For over two hours, they searched tunnels for any sign of the intruders. They all kept their less-physical senses peeled for any sign of a Keyblade being used, for she very much doubted that the demon Vanitas would pass up a chance to come after them personally for their role in Vexen's death. But after hours of searching, they found nothing. Finally convinced that it was some false alarm or else vermin tripping the motion sensors, the Huntsmaster decided to call it in and return to their underground encampment. That was when they felt and heard it. The low rumble and dull roar of an explosion rippled through the subterranean labyrinth from the direction of the Huntslair ruins.

Panic, a rare emotion, even for a former Nobody, surged through Lerena's body as she and the Huntsclan soldiers raced back through the labyrinth towards the base. The proximity alarm was clearly a ruse designed to draw out the Unchained defending the base and allow the infidels to attack the ramshackle camp while its defenses were scattered. Lerena was enraged now, but she quickly put a tight lid over it. The loss of her heart in preparation for infiltrating Organization XIII may have been deliberate, but she didn't  _really_ want to lose herself to the Darkness now did she? After a few minutes of frantic sprinting, she and the Huntsmaster emerged into what used to be the central antechamber of the Hong Kong Huntslair, and the Unchained woman dropped to her knees in shock.

The entire two story chamber that had once played host to a hundred and fifty fugitive Unchained was now covered in flames from wall to wall. The bodies of the Unchained left behind in the facility lie littered all over the room. Within the span of three hours, Vanitas and his allies have managed to undo two thirds of the hard work that the Legion had put into reviving their fallen brothers. After taking a few moments to compose herself, Lerena opened a Corridor of Light and vanished from the room. Imperator Skuld needed to be informed of this development at once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jenova's appearance is based on JENOVA SYNTHESIS from Final Fantasy VII, her final form fought in the game shortly before the final boss with Sephiroth


	18. Time to Face the Light

#### New York City – United Nations Headquarters

#### October 27th, 2021

"And so the nightmare begins," Vanitas thought to himself as he sat in the cafeteria of the United Nations headquarters. In light of the world's near-unanimous acceptance of the magical community and the Inhuman race, the Society of Advanced Cultural Knowledge decided that it was time to start educating the public and the world governments who didn't already have S.A.C.K. members in office about the threats posed by the Hellfire Club and the Unchained Legion. To that end, Vanitas and his C.I.N. team had introduced themselves to the U.N. security council and spent the last twelve hours effectively serving as ad hoc ambassadors for the Daybreak Coalition.

"I don't think it'' be  _that_ bad," Rinoa commented as she walked over with a fresh cup of coffee in hand. "The public's been pretty accepting of the supernatural for a while now. Worst case scenario would be a bunch of fashion shows trying to get you to change your hairstyle."

"Well too bad for them," Vanitas commented with a chuckle. "After all ten years of my existence, I'm kind of attached to the look, even if it is just copying Sora's. Maybe we should send Isa to them instead."

"Please don't," the Organization's former number VII commented dryly without looking up from his book at the other end of the table. "I'd probably end up with curlers in my hair by the time they got through with me. Maybe Xiruk."

"I'm not entirely sure our little Replica would appreciate that," Ludor chimed in as he sauntered over with a tray full of food. "We'd have to wear blindfolds around the apartment until he returned it to his normal style." Upon their arrival on Earth, the Coalition Intelligence agents had been split up in terms of sleeping arrangements. Cloud was staying with Zack and reconnecting with his surrogate brother, Even was staying with the FitzSimmons, Daisy had invited Violet to stay with her and Lincoln, while Vanitas himself preferred to stay at S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. As he thought about the living arrangements, an thought popped into his head that he wanted to get the former residents of Coalition worlds now living on Earth's opinions on.

"Do you think you'll ever move back to the Coalition after the worlds have merged back into one?" Vanitas asked out of curiosity, waiting to see what the others' responses were.

"Possibly," Isa remarked. "There'd be a lot of bad blood between my former colleagues and I, but since being freed from Xehanort's possession, I've been feeling homesick for Radiant Garden."

"I probably won't," Ludor remarked. "I'm quite content with the life I've made for myself here, and I believe Xiruk's desire to distance himself from Riku means that he feels the same way as I do. The puppy might, though." Everyone laughed. Because of his hyperactive enthusiasm, Zack Fair's nickname of "The Puppy" was quite well-earned.

"Well I will," Rinoa commented as the laughter died down. "I'm happy with the life and family I've made since The Fall, but I miss my home, and the friends that I grew up with. I miss Squall, and Yuffie, and Tifa, and the others."

"Perfectly understandable," the ex-Gambler of Fate replied as he pulled out his signature deck of cards. "Now would anyone care to challenge me to some go fish while we wait for the next meeting to begin? Honestly, Vanitas, I pity you for being stuck in all those stuff boardrooms all day. It must be agony." The dark Key Bearer laughed at the former Number X's commentary as he reluctantly acquiesced to a game of poker. There were turbulent days ahead, with many battles both physical and political still to come. They needed to enjoy the moments of peace and quiet while they still had the time to do so.

* * *

#### The Lost Empire – Palace Courtyard

#### October 27th, 2021

Crowds gathered in anticipation as Queen Kidagakash Nedakh strode down the steps of the Atlantean royal palace, the ancient Spear of Destiny in hand. After eight thousand years trapped beneath the ocean, it was finally time to use the ancient Atlantean relic to bring her kingdom back to the surface world where it belonged. She marched past Sweet, Mole, Audrey, Vinnie, and other surviving founders of the Society of Advanced Cultural Knowledge with a nervous smile on her face towards where her husband was waiting for her in the middle of the circular plaza. Milo had changed so much in Atlantis simply through the Shepherd's Journal alone. If he had never come to Atlantis, Kida felt that her civilization would have died out long ago.

"My father was only protecting us," she began as she addressed her subjects. "And the world above when he hid the Heart of Atlantis. But my father was wrong. He thought mankind would use the power of the crystal for destruction. But look around you. The Heart of Atlantis has let us rebuild our city, and through it Kingdom Hearts has restored our kingdom to its former glory. And I have seen how the knowledge of Atlantis has touched friends and old allies on the surface, enabling them to become great healers and teachers as they sought to show the world the path to a brighter future. The brightest light is worth nothing if hidden in a cave."

"I do not want the legacy of Atlantis to be the destruction of its civilization," Kida continued. "Recent events on the surface have convinced me that it is finally time to share our light with the world." With those words, the spear began to crackle with purple sparks of electricity that spread from tip to shaft. With a triumphant grin, Kida took the energized spear and inserted it into the circular depression at the center of the courtyard's intricate markings. Slowly but surely the carved lines began to glow with the familiar blue shade of the Heart and spread outward towards the rest of the city, and continuing all the way outward towards the kingdom's reconstructed shores while the stone guardians of Atlantis marched outward towards the pedestals that had been built for them along the coastline.

Once the guardians were in place, a beam of blue energy shot upwards from the spear directly into the Heart of Atlantis. The carved stones representing the great kings of the past began to revolve faster and faster as they circled the Great Crystal. The Atlantean people looked on in wonder as once more beams of light lanced out from the crystal and struck the heads of the massive statues, causing the stone automatons to clap their hands together and spread them apart to create the shield of energy that had saved the people of Atlantis time and time again. As the barrier neared its completion, the spear began to float upwards until it merged completely with the crystal. Milo raced over to his wife's side to support her as she recovered from the energy drain of activating the spear as the shield finished forming with a bright flash.

The ground began to rumble as the Atlantean continent rose out of the lava pool on which it rested for the first time in eight thousand years. Up on the surface, a group of fishermen had just finished unloading their latest catch when dozens more than they had planned on leaped out of the ocean and onto the deck. The crew looked over the side of the boat in confusion and alarm as the sea around their ship began to bubble and boil. Without warning, a massive wave suddenly swelled up from the surface and carried the boat several hundred feet back from where they had started. As the wave spread outward, the mist began to clear, revealing the still glowing sphere surrounding the island of Atlantis. The fishermen's mouths were agape as they watched the dome slowly dissolve and the gargantuan statues lower their arms.

In the capital, the people of Atlantis began to cheer as they looked up at the sun for the first time in over eight millennia.

"What is that light, Queen Kida?" a child asked as Kida looked around at her applauding subjects. "Is it a crystal?"

"No child," the Atlantean queen answered as she lifted the little girl up onto her shoulders. "It is the sun." And as she walked down the steps of the palace to join the celebrations that were popping up across the island, she could not help but feel that the world had just been changed for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dialogue from the second half of this chapter was quoted from the direct-to-DVD sequel Atlantis: Milo's Return. While it wasn't as good as the original, there were still a lot of great and memorable scenes. Atlantis rising to the surface for the first time in thousands of years was one of them, and as soon as I knew I was going to incorporate that into this universe, I knew I wanted to have a chapter focus on that. Cloak and Dagger happened to be the ideal place to do it. I had Atlantis restored to it's beginning of the movie glory off-screen after the ending of The Xehanort War because of how beautiful the animation looked and wanted to have Atlantis regrow after the end of the film.


	19. Watchdogs

#### Daybreak Town – Seacoast Park

#### 5,995 B.C.

From her position at Ephemer's side, Skuld watched Daybreak Town burn. The raven haired High Praetor of the Unchained Legion looked down from atop the lighthouse in Seacoast Park at the sight of Unchained soldiers dragging their long boats up onto the shore. High Praetor Derax and Praetor Victor led the second wave of Legionnaires from the landing site to the Legion's command tent set up in the park as the first wave of Keyblade Wielders clashed with Ursus troops on the bridge leading towards the city marketplace. On the opposite side of the massive city, the warriors of the Anguis guild were landing on the farther shores of Daybreak Town while Unicornis warships pounded the shore with Firaga Burst and Thundaga Shot spells from the Bay of Sunrise.

Skuld laid a hand on her friend's shoulder as he winced in phantom pain when their aerial forces obliterated the Ursus contingent on the bridge with an air strike from the Marag squadron captured during the Sinking of Atlantis. Despite the ruthless image he presented to their fellow Keyblade Wielders who believed in Master Ava's vision, the events of the first day of the Keyblade War still haunted the Novus Imperator to this day. She empathized with his pain. The war had scarred all of them, both physically and emotionally. She only hoped that the battle today went as planned. The Unchained Legion was going up against two of the largest Guilds of the Order of the Keyblade with only a third of its full strength.

While Derax insisted on participating the battle to help avenge the Foreteller Vulpeus, the rest of the Vulpeus Guild had been ordered to remain behind at their compound in Wakanda, out of respect for Lady Ava's desire that her guild remain neutral in the conflict. Likewise, Ephemer had ordered Valerie's newly formed Huntsclan to scatter across the globe, to ensure that if Darkness prevailed in Daybreak Town, that the defenders of light would not all be lost in a single strike. With catlike grace, she and Ephemer leaped from the top of the lighthouse and gently landed on the walkway leading to what remained of the bridge.

As the two of them and Derax used Blizzaga spells to seal the gaps in the bridge created by the laser fire of the Atlantean Marags, the Unchained army began to march across the bridge leading into Daybreak Town. As the head of the column, she, Derax, and Ephemer lead the charge as they raced across the bridge and swarmed into the market place, taking the forces of the Leopardos guild encamped in the city's smaller markets by surprise. Blood and combat spells flew everywhere as the Unchained Legion charged into battle. Skuld ignored the sting of blood on her face as she drove her Keyblade through a Leopardos soldier's chest, while beside her Derax used the scythe he'd taken to using in place of his Keyblade to lop off the heads of his opponents.

The next several hours were bloody and brutal. Unchained, Anguis, Unicornis, Leopardos, and Ursus Keyblade Wielders fought tooth and nail for every scrap of territory that they took. Casualties were high, and Skuld was beginning to be grateful that they hadn't thrown all of their forces into this attack. Even if this attack ultimately proved suicidal, there were enough troops waiting in reserve to keep the remaining forces of Darkness at bay until the fallen Unchained finished their reincarnation process. As she inspected the catapults being set up at the base of the clock tower, she found herself desperately hoping that they prevailed here in Daybreak Town. Because the alternative was not an idea that she wanted to consider.

* * *

#### Earth – Kentucky

#### November 2nd, 2021

"Do we have confirmation on the target?" Mack asked as he and the Secret Warriors got into position around the barn their intel had pinned as a staging area for the Watchdogs. A few feet away, Vanitass, Cloud, Shego, and Violet were getting ready themselves. Another week worth of hacking and decoding had yielded more intel on the movements of the Unchained Legion. Allegedly, there was an abandoned farm in a small, backwater town in Kentucky. Despite the fact that their views were very much in the minority, the backing of the Unchained Legion made the Watchdogs too serious a threat for them to ignore. Hence their current situation.

"Confirmed," Daisy replied. "We just got satellite footage from one of Fitz's Dwarf Probes. They're definitely in there. We're good to go. A few seconds later, they felt the sudden breeze as Yo-Yo Rodriguez returned from her high-speed scouting. Quake nodded to the superhumanly fast S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to request the results of her intel gathering.

"Two guards at each entrance," Elena reported. "Armed with plasma rifles and armor woven from Sphinx hair. There's about eleven fanatics inside helping set up for a rally of some kind, and maybe two or three locals with sympathetic ears. It doesn't seem like they believe in the Watchdogs' "cause", but they knew people who are and have been pressured into attending the meeting. Even if the rhetoric does not sway them, they may be forcibly conscripted into this anyway."

"Alright then," Mack commented, inadvertently cutting his girlfriend off as she was about to add another crucial detail to her report.. "We'll have to act fast. Yo-Yo will handle the sentries on this side. Vanitas, you'll handle the ones on the other side. From there, Joey will melt all their guns so that they can't shoot at us. Once we get inside, Violet and Tremors will restrain the watchdogs while Manifold gets the civilians out of harm's way. Shego and Cloud will watch the perimeter and take down anyone who tries to escape. If all goes well, we can get some valuable intelligence on the Unchained Legion."

"There's just one thing," Yo-Yo interrupted. "I got a good look at the way the Watchdogs are organized, and the one leading the group is Commander Gonzales." Everyone in the group went silent with looks of shock and betrayal on their faces. Commander Gonzales' views on Inhumans and the magical community weren't positive, sure. But none of them could even imagine the possibility that he would betray S.H.I.E.L.D. for the Watchdogs and the Unchained Legion. But Agent Rodriguez wouldn't lie about something as earth shaking as this. And things were starting to make sense. Gonzales had gone on vacation a few days ago and subsequently dropped off the grid. For him to suddenly emerge as a leader for the Watchdogs not only made sense, it was a nightmare how much damage he could do with his high-level S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance.

After taking a few more minutes to process their shock and confusion, the joint S.H.I.E.L.D./C.I.N. tactical team geared up and prepared to make their move. With practiced ease, the strike team members played out their roles. Yo-Yo's super speed and Vanitas' teleportation quickly eliminated the sentries, while Manifold quickly teleported in and grabbed the reluctant civilians who'd been pressured into coming before bringing them to safety. Once the strike team got inside, things got a whole lot more complicated. True to Elena's word, Gonzales was standing on the stage next to the podium, clearly in a leadership position given the way that the other Watchdogs were deferring to his command as the S.H.I.E.L.D. strike team flooded into the barn.

Daisy, Joey, and Violet contained the eleven Watchdogs fairly quickly. But everyone's jaws hit the metaphorical floor when Gonzales pulled out a Keyblade and charged at the Secret Warriors. Vanitas warped into the room just in time to block the strike and engage the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent himself. Keyblade armor formed around the grizzled S.H.I.E.L.D. agent's body, blazing with the dandelion insignia of the Unchained Legion, answering everyone's questions about Gonzales' allegiance in one single, wordless action. Gonzale swung his Keyblade, but Vanitas quickly sidestepped, leaving behind an afterimage of himself before striking Gonzales in the back.

The fighting between the two Keyblade Masters was relentless. While Gonzales had eight thousand years of experience by virtue of his status as an Unchained, the intervention of the Secret Warriors allowed Vanitas to stay alive and not be instantly slaughtered. That, combined with his proficient use in the powers of Darkness managed to give him an edge. After half an hour of constant dueling, Quake managed to knock Gonzales unconscious with a well-timed vibration blast. As the S.H.I.E.L.D. support team sent to mop up after the raid began taking the captured Watchdogs into custody, Mack and Daisy looked down at Gonzales' prone body. Far from explaining anything, however, the commander of the Iliad's status as an Unchained had only left them with more questions than answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because of the potential fourth wall breaking involved, the little flying robot probes referred to as "Dwarves" on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are not named after the Seven Dwarfs from Snow White. The Watchdogs operating in Kentucky was a reference to the church scene in Kingsman: The Secret Service, and also a nod to the comic book version of the group, whose views involve less anti-Inhuman racism and more extreme homophobia and other discriminatory attitudes. Daisy being the one to knock out Gonzales was a bit of a retroactive catharsis for me over his xenophobia of Inhumans and his attitude towards her in Season 2.


	20. Confession Time

#### Republic of Sokovia – Castle Ava

#### 5,995 BC

"What do you have to report?" Ephemer demanded as he gazed at the young, trembling Unchained who had arrived with news from Daybreak Town. After seven years of fighting, the young man's face was covered in small scars and burns, while a large eye patch covered the wound that cost him his right eye during the Sinking of Atlantis. The war had been a bitter and violent struggle for them all, and morale was starting to reach an all new low. Ava's disciples needed a target and a victory to re-energize them and get them back into fighting spirit.

"Most of the Ursus and Leopardos soldiers remain in control of the city," the young Legionnaire explained. "But an enormous mining operation has sprung up in the mountains to the west of Daybreak Town. The most common speculation among my fellow scouts is that it may be the hiding place of the Grand Masters' X – Blade. We've been hearing persistent rumors from the non-Wielder citizens that supports the theory, but we have no concrete evidence."

"And did you not think to investigate the mining operations?" Skuld demanded angrily before calming herself. Prior to the war, the minimum age of recruitment into the Order of the Keyblade was sixteen years old. As tensions and unrest grew in the months leading up to Ava's peace summit in Atlantis, the Foreteller Ursus had lowered the age to as young as twelve, much to the consternation and disgust of all the other guilds save for Leopardos. Not wishing for innocent children to be forced to fight in the coming war, Ava had recruited the youngest Ursus recruits into what had now become the Unchained Legion. To avoid spilling unnecessary blood, Ephemer had placed the children on reconnaissance duty. But that was now coming back to bite them in the rear, since some of them were lacking in the common-sense department because of their age and lack of experience.

"We tried, Lady Skuld," the boy answered timidly. "But the defenses were beyond what we had been trained for. Anguis and Unicornis tried to breach the mines, but only Unicornis were successful."

"Very well," Ephemer replied. "Well done, kid. I'll talk to Ira from here." He dismissed the child to go eat after his long journey before convening the Legion's inner circle. Foreteller Derax, High Praetor Skuld, and Praetor Valerie were all available for the meeting, while Warden Ophelia and Praetor were too busy organizing their burgeoning war fleets to attend. He went on to outline his plan to the rest of his confidants and get their opinion on the matter at hand.

"You can't be serious, Ephemer," Derax protested as the Novus Imperator explained his intention to meet with the Foreteller Unicornis and find out the results of the scouting mission. It was no secret that most of the Unchained displayed a near universal contempt for the Anguis and Unicornis guilds. The two factions fought each other just as much as they fought the Ursus and Leopardos factions, and their senseless cannon fodder tactics disgusted the Unchained with their disregard for the lives of their soldiers. For the leader of the Unchained to willingly seek them out was a sign of how serious he was taking the situation.

"Unfortunately, I am," Ephemer answered. "Rumors as serious as this need to be investigated thoroughly. And as much as I despise him, Ira's spies will leave no stone unturned in their investigation of the mining operation. If anyone will know whether the rumors are true, it'll be him." With that, he summoned a Corridor of Light and stepped through to the mansion in Twilight Town that Unicornis had claimed as its central base of operations. The discovery of the X – Blade would be just the thing to reignite Unchained morale, and if the rumors were true, they needed to move quickly to secure the sacred blade and avenge Ava's death.

* * *

#### Earth – The Playground

#### November 5th, 2021

"I was starting to wonder what was taking so long," Coulson remarked as Daisy and Vanitas emerged from Gonzales' interrogation room after two hours of questioning the treacherous S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent. Once they had taken the  _Iliad_ 's commander into custody, they cross referenced the man's travel records against Black Widow's notes on Unchained safe houses and the evidence confirmed what most of them already knew: Commander Robert Gonzales was an Unchained Legionnaire and a traitor to S.H.I.E.L.D. Given the man's disdain for Vanitas and hatred of super-humans and the supernatural in general, Director Hill had ordered Daisy and Vanitas to handle the interrogation.

"Did you get anything useful out of him?" Hill asked as she passed the duo some coffee to re-energize. The interrogation had been going on for three days before they had decided to let Vanitas and Quake have a crack at the Unchained. By that point had been a long night for all of them, and none of the higher-ranking agents had gotten barely sleep at all. "If he's clammed up we'll send someone else in."

"No," Vanitas replied. "He talked." The tone of his voice made it clear that whatever Gonzales had said managed to leave the being of pure darkness uncharacteristically shaken. While he had gotten used to being treated better, Vanitas' bitter memories of being treated as a monster every time he tried to make friends back during his days as Xehanort's pawn should have meant that such distrust and hatred shouldn't have surprised him in the slightest. While his interrogation plan was similar to what Agent Romanov had used against Loki back during the Chitauri Invasion of 2012, Gonzales' hateful words had been so brutal that Vanitas's fighting back tears was genuine. Only Daisy's presence and the need to get information out of the man kept him from teleporting Gonzales into a volcano for his insults.

"He pretty much gave us everything," Daisy added as she took over the debriefing. She put a reassuring hand on the dark man's shoulder as she continued. "The Unchained Legion is gathering the Infinity Stones. That much we know. They're seeking to re-complete the Infinity Gauntlet so that they can use it to accelerate Earth's re-completion. They're looking to acquire an artifact from Asgard called the Warlock's eye. It will allow them to perform mass mind control on a global scale, augmenting it with magic to make people think the way the Legion wants them to think even after the Eye's control has been lifted. Once they control how people think, they'll use their influence on world governments to reshape society in their image. One world order and all that."

"Once they control society," Vanitas took over with a grateful look from Daisy, his spirits lifted and self-esteem rebuilt even though his voice still wavered. "They intend to purge the world of all who they consider to be "irredeemable." Part of it is career criminals, drug dealers, serial killers, rapists, and other negative elements of society. But their idea of "irredeemable" includes anyone who uses or associates with those who use the powers of darkness, all super-humans, and the entire magical population."

"Gonzales wasn't clear on how they would accomplish that," Quake added. "From the way he was talking, the Legion's inner circle is constantly arguing on the methods they plan to use. Gao wants to turn all their targets into livestock so that they can "still contribute to society in some way," the Huntsclan just wants to bomb them all, and Gonzales had the bright idea of gathering all of us in camps and slaughtering us from there."

"Well that seems pretty extreme given that they'd effectively be killing off almost half the world's population," Coulson remarked. "Any indication as to their motives? Romanov either wasn't clear on that in her notes or we just haven't dug that part up yet."

"As a result of their experiences in the Keyblade War," Vanitas continued. "They consider Darkness in any form to be an abomination against nature and seek to eradicate it from the universe by any means necessary. Their one and only motivation is to "purify" the universe."  _As if that will ever succeed in the long term,_ Vanitas thought to himself, his acerbic sarcasm a sign that he'd recovered from Gonzales' unexpectedly intense tongue lashing.  _Xehanort may have been a manipulative old bastard, but he was right when he told Terra that Darkness can't be destroyed, only channeled. Sooner or later, the Darkness of the universe would have found its way out somehow._

"Alright then," Hill commented. "Our analysts are almost done mining Romanov's intel package. Johnson, I want you to read over everything and see if she thought to include a list of which public figures are Unchained. If we can identify their political connections, we can dismantle their attempts to control the government. Coulson, send Sif back to Asgard with a warning for Odin to increase security on the palace vaults. If we can delay the Legion long enough for Coalition reinforcements to arrive, we might have a chance to stop them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The flashback in this chapter is set just before the one in The Xehanort War where Ephemer confronts Ira about Gula and Aced's hunt for the X – Blade, a few days before the Siege of Daybreak Town.


	21. Brave New World

#### New York City – JFK International Airport

#### November 6th, 2021

"I'm confused," Agent Piper commented as she, Cloud, and Vshe and a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents stood stood in one of the larger docking bays of John F. Kennedy International Air and Spaceport alongside Vanitas' C.I.N. unit, S.A.C.K. members, and U.N. diplomats. "Why exactly are we here again? Spaceships landing on Earth isn't anything new anymore. Why all the fanfare?"

"Because today is the day that Earth makes first contact with the Daybreak Coalition," Vanitas explained as he fiddled with his commlink. Once the Coalition ships landed, he would be able to contact Director Cassim and relay what he and his team had been up to for the past month. Today his real work would begin. He had to debrief his boss, notify Even's friends of his passing, arrange for his body to be brought back to Radiant Garden for his funeral, and fill Aqua and the Order of the Keyblade in on what's been going on with the Unchained Legion. Everyone stood at attention as an Adamant-class Gummi Ship troop carrier glided into the docking bay before settling down on the floor and powering off its engines.

"A Hundred Munny says that our families came along with the delegation just to see us again," Cloud commented, earning a chuckle from Violet. He knew that Tifa would almost certainly come along, bringing their adopted son Denzel with her. It would not surprise him in the slightest if his wife was one of the first people off the ship. After a few minutes of waiting, the doors opened, and sure enough out came Grand Master Aqua, Ienzo, Commander Leonheart, Captain Phoebus, and Tifa Strife. But before anyone could say or do anything, Rinoa raced forward and gave her old boyfriend a tearful hug.

* * *

#### Earth – Sokovia; Abandoned Castle

#### A Few Hours Later

 _This is it,_ Skuld thought to herself as she stood on the balcony of the castle entrance hall. The remaining members of the Huntsclan were gathered on the floor below her. Because their people were scattered across the worlds, her message was being broadcast across all the Legion's encrypted communications frequencies for the benefit of their brothers and sisters who could not attend this gathering in person. The encryption codes had been changed once they figured out that S.H.I.E.L.D. was using Natasha Romanov's safe house to access their communications. And this was one message they didn't want the spy agency to overhear.

"Greetings, my Unchained brothers and sisters," she began. "It is with great satisfaction that I report the time has come to strike the vaults of Asgard and recover the relics we need for the final stages of the endgame." On either side of her, Aurilam and Lerena smiled in satisfaction. It had taken a great deal of effort and manipulation to prune the infighting of the High Council. But now, with Gao, Stone, and Gonzales out of the way, they could finally move forward under one unifying vision. But while she should be feeling joy at this moment, right now Skuld felt as if her body was only going through the motions while her heart and mind warred with each other over whether the plan she'd worked so hard for over the last several millennia really was the right way forward.

"Yes," she continued. "After eight thousand years of planning and preparation, we are now, finally ready to cleanse the Earth and eradicate the Darkness from the universe. Soon, the corrupt and impure of the world will be erased from existance, and we, the Unchained Legion, shall guide those that remain on the right path. We have lost several comrades along the way, some, to weakness, Darkness, and annihilation. But despite our significant losses, we still have the numbers we need to push forward with The Endgame. Rejoice! For after eight lonely millennia of painstakingly slow progress, OUR DAY HAS COME!"

"A rousing speech as usual, Imperator," Lerena commented as Skuld and her lieutenants retired to her office. "But I question whether or not it's truly wise to tolerate Gonzales' capture. Even without his role as our sole informant inside S.H.I.E.L.D., if he tells them what he knows in the midst of one of his rants against the impure that the agency keeps employing, it could deal a serious blow to our cause and dramatically impact the Endgame."

"I doubt Gonzales could tell them anything that they couldn't already learn from the contents of Natalia's safehouse," the leader of the Unchained replied. Inside, the increasingly loud voice of her doubts was expressing hope that he had so that the plan could be stopped before the Legion crossed the point of no return. "But you do have a point. After our raid on Asgard, you have my authorization to kill him before he can talk."

"And if he already has?" Aurilam inquired skeptically as he poured some wine for the three of them. Skuld's face set in a grim line, slightly less firm than usual due to her recent doubts.

"Kill him anyway," she answered, her doubts screaming protests and objections in her mind as her lips formed the words. "But leave S.H.I.E.L.D. be. They'll all be destroyed in the Endgame one way or another. Let them sweat as they scramble to try and thwart the plan. It will do them no good when they realize that there is nothing that can truly stop us once we get our hands on the Blade."


End file.
